Booze could be back in downtown Yarmouth

By Michael Gorman

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation has awarded a tender for a downtown liquor store.

Carlyn Bolivar-Getson, minister responsible for the NSLC, was in town on Monday to make the announcement.

Though Main Street is the closest its been to having a liquor store since the NSLC moved to Starrs Road more than two years ago, some conditions remain to be settled between the NSLC and Novi Boat Brokers, the winning tender, before a contract is signed.

Mayor Charles Crosby was there for the announcement. He said it's good to see businesses coming to the down town, especially on that he said should not have left in the first place "I think we have another anchor in our community," he said. "People will come back (to the down town) and that means they'll be walking the streets, so the merchants will benefit."

Rick Perkins, vice-president of marking and communications for the NSLC, said he couldn't talk about conditions of the contract due to ongoing negotiations but said they are satisfied with the proposed location. "We think it's an interesting location," he said. "We're excited . . . to get what we think is a location in terms for us that will make it a profitable store for us and address the community's needs."

The location — Rainbow Net & Rigging Limited on Main Street — is a 1,000-square foot building that will be run by NSLC employees. Perkins said the location, which is about a tenth of the size of the Starrs Road store, will be stocked with a limited amount of the most popular beers, wines and hard liquor.

The downtown has been without a liquor store since the location at the corner of Main and Forest Street moved in next to the Superstore. Almost as soon as the store left, people were trying to get one to take its place.

In the time since, there have been two tenders posted that were not awarded and an experimental outlet in the tourist bureau that stocked a very limited amount of alcohol. In an interview following the summer, Perkins said the NSLC was unhappy with the performance of that outlet.

There is no timeline for when the store might open, though Perkins said he would like to see it ready to go in time for summer. "The next step is getting the contract and then once the contract is signed then we've got to actually build the place." Perkins said construction of the store is one of the things still under negotiation.