With just two bidders, the license went for $1.1 million.  The township set a minimum bid of $700,000, and the other bid was unsuccessful at $756,000.

The winning bidder sold the license to the Gleeson family earlier this year and they will be building their liquor store in Oceanview at the busy and highly-visible corner of Route 9 and Sea Isle Boulevard.

Plans include 4,000 square feet of retail space and an additional 4,700 square feet for storage space and offices.  The family, which owns Gleeson Contractors, will be constructing the building themselves.  The business is slated to be open for sales by Memorial Day.

Dennis Township has been “dry” since it was incorporated in 1826.  In 2001, voters approved a referendum to allow liquor.  Dennis auctioned one of its two permitted restaurant liquor licenses in 2002 to Shore Gate Golf Club, which bid the minimum set price of $300,000 to acquire the coveted license.

Of Cape May County’s 16 municipalities, only Ocean City, Wildwood Crest, and Cape May Point remain “dry” towns.

- Mountain Man

http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

Here in New Jersey, that’s not the case when it comes to starting a restaurant that serves liquor.  You see, the Garden State has quotas on liquor licenses.  Each municipality, if they allow liquor and many don’t,  is permitted one restaurant liquor license per 3,500 residents.  In my town of 18,000 yearround residents, that’s five restaurants that can serve liquor.

The only exception is the towns that had more liquor licenses than that before the quota took effect, which I believe was in the late 1970′s.  In the island town of Wildwood, winter population 4,400, there are probably 30 liquor licenses.

Back to my municipality, Middle Township, which is one of the five towns on the mainland in our county (the other 11 are island towns).  Our town is the county seat, and center of shopping, medicine, and the legal profession.  Plenty of restaurant chains would love to locate here – the one’s like TGI Fridays, Applebees, Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday, Chili’s, Red Lobster, etc.  Nice family restaurants that serve liquor.  They can’t, of course, because there’s no liquor licenses available.

To get a liquor license in New Jersey, there are only two ways – your town’s population increases enough to hit that next 3,500 person plateau or you buy an existing license from another establishment that has closed.

When a town’s population does go up, the town auctions the new license.  The last one in my town sold for $660,000.  Yikes!  You gotta sell alot of beer to make that back.  A neighboring town auctioned one last year for $1.1 million.

Buying an existing liquor license is either possible or not depending on the town.  I bought one of two licenses in West Wildwood in 2001 for $110,000.  That was considered a bargain, but the location wasn’t great.  I sold the bar and license in 2004.  The license went for $200,000.

In West Virginia, where our second home is located, the liquor license system is fair.  It costs $1,150 to get a full license, payable to the state, allowing you to sell beer, wine, and hard liquor.  Anyone with enough gumption can get a license.  It’s free enterprise at its best.  To the victors go the spoils.

The whole process in New Jersey is un-American.  Anyone who wants to start a restaurant or bar should be able to.  Then it’s survival of the fittest.  That’s the American way!

- Mountain Man