New location for 2nd West Seattle liquor store: Westwood Village

Thanks to Bell61 in the WSB Forums for first word of this: Brian Smith at the state Liquor Control Board confirms that a replacement location has finally been found for West Seattle’s second liquor store, which closed in Morgan Junction one year ago – the Westwood Village storefront that is now home to Famous Footwear (north side of the center). Smith says the store is expected to open in February. ADDED 12:11 PM: Commenters wondered what the liquor store would do with all that space, since it’s a big storefront; we put the followup question to Smith, who says, “The liquor store will occupy about 50 percent of the space. It is my understanding that a wall will be erected and the landlord will lease the other half to another tenant.”

33 Replies to "New location for 2nd West Seattle liquor store: Westwood Village"

  • WMF September 30, 2009 (11:06 am)

    Well, now I no longer have to go to the White Center store when I’m in that area, but I’d prefer it a little more north :(

  • bluebird September 30, 2009 (11:14 am)

    North already has one, not to mention all the bars and restaurants. This is great. ‘cept that waiting until February part.

  • Keith September 30, 2009 (11:28 am)

    Wow, that’s a big space! Hopefully with the extra room they’ll stock some harder-to-find items.

  • JenV September 30, 2009 (11:34 am)

    w00t!

  • Bonnie September 30, 2009 (11:35 am)

    Yes! I can walk!

  • Bonnie September 30, 2009 (11:37 am)

    Oh, hey? is Famous Footwear leaving?

  • WSB September 30, 2009 (11:41 am)

    I have a message out to FF corporate to ask if they’re moving to another West Seattle location or if they’re just leaving this area. The forum topic started with the OP saying they noticed FF was closing and they asked why – then were told, because state liquor store is moving in. – TR

  • sacatosh September 30, 2009 (12:07 pm)

    WOOOOT! Stumbling distance!

    Kidding aside, I agree with the earlier commenter that it’d be fabulous to use the extra space to stock more rare items, similar to the store on 4th Ave S, down by the stadiums (granted, that store is TINY but they have a great selection!)

  • WSB September 30, 2009 (12:09 pm)

    I also have a followup question out to the Liquor Control spokesperson re: whether there’s something special planned given all the extra space – TR

  • WSB September 30, 2009 (12:11 pm)

    …and the answer just came in (will add to main story too) … They are taking half the space.

  • CA September 30, 2009 (12:12 pm)

    YAY! I can walk there, especially if we have a crappy winter last past year!….white center scary and since they took out the one by Thriftway on California, we go to Burien now. Will this store be a “late” store? Open til ten pm?

  • coffee September 30, 2009 (12:41 pm)

    Thank god its close! White Center is horrible, and the junction is great, but a bit out of the way.

  • Marge September 30, 2009 (1:08 pm)

    “White Center scary”? “White Center horrible”? CA & coffee, do you actually ever go there? We go to White Center all the time. In fact our favorite Pho place, Pho 99 is across from the liquor store. (btw, we live in Fauntlee Hills)

  • rw September 30, 2009 (1:21 pm)

    I just wish the state would get out of the liquor store business altogether. Let TJs, Safeway, QFC, and others stock liquor just as they do in other states. I think we the consumers would get better service, prices, and selection — and the state would end up with more tax revenue in the process. The state-controlled liquor store option is total BS.

  • D'ridge Representin' September 30, 2009 (1:25 pm)

    Heads up sacatosh, that 4th Ave store moved south a bit to a bigger bldg recently.
    Now they just need a doggy daycare in WWvillage and I could hit the gym, bank, groceries, hair did, etc all while my dog is having fun. If you build it we will come. :)

  • sacatosh September 30, 2009 (2:18 pm)

    Thanks for the heads-up D’ridge. Obviously it’s been awhile since I’ve been there. I’m feeling the urge to pick up a bottle of Clase Azul Reposado, and they are the most likely place to have it. I’ll check out the new digs.

  • Genessee neighbor September 30, 2009 (2:19 pm)

    I agree with RW – the state should get out of the liquor business!

  • Donn September 30, 2009 (3:50 pm)

    I don’t understand why they need a new liquor store only about 6-10 blocks away from the White Center store. Just more drunks to be hanging out in the parking lot at Westwood on a Friday or Saturday night.

  • Amanda September 30, 2009 (4:22 pm)

    Kinda agree with Donn… but the Westwood location will also serve everyone north of there, not South…. I am looking forward to it personally, Westwood is quickly becoming a really great shopping center for one stop shopping. It would be nice to see a little less “corporate” stores though. Maybe the White Center strip will be the balance. Go White Center!

  • Liquor Fan September 30, 2009 (6:37 pm)

    Rw has a good point, couldn’t agree more — allow other stores to sell liquor! California has BevMo (Beverages and More) and it’s got a huge selection. Perhaps some price competition would benefit us consumers. If I had a store, it’d be Rum 10% above cost ’till the recession is over!! :-)

  • SpeakLoud September 30, 2009 (6:44 pm)

    AWESOME

  • JayDee September 30, 2009 (6:56 pm)

    While I think the State gets a C in how it runs the Byzantine Liquor Control Board (which is schizo because it both controls who sells liquor, wine, and beer, but also peddles the same), I much prefer State-controlled liquor stores for one reason: The winos and the rich guy all have to shop at the same place, and because it is state-controlled you don’t have real liquor stores every couple blocks.

    During the LA riots the LA Times published a map overlying density of liquor stores with economic conditions, and those areas damaged most severely during the riots. All the maps were the same: those with the greatest density of liquor stores were the hardest hit during the riots, and the lowest income areas. While causation is not correlation, it seemed like it was pretty strong.

    That being said, a trip to a Bev’ Mo’ in California is eye-opening and a clear example of our impoverished selection in the WA State Liquor stores.

  • auntee social September 30, 2009 (7:09 pm)

    Hmm, great. Liquor store. There aren’t enough goofball deviants hanging around the one a few blocks away. I’m all for a nice bottle of booze for the house, but the one in WC is a little scary, and yes I shop there occasionally and eat at Pho99 a lot right across the way and love so many aspects of White Center. Not dissing WC.
    Expect the street drunks to set up shop in the fields behind the new store–by Sealth HS, just as they have done in the vacant lots in WC, and streets of White Center. The main vacant lot in WC is under construction now, so a shift a few blocks North would be no problem. I see these guys doing all kinds of disgusting things, now they will be by where I buy office supplies. Great.
    I’d much rather see liquor bottles in groceries and specialty stores. We spend a lot of taxpayer money keeping these State retail stores running, the State would end up with more revenue dispersing the products to grocery stores without the overhead of staff and real estate.
    The street drunk problem, I don’t know how that would work- but it may be less concentrated, or maybe there would be more. I guess a plus would be that since the State wants to cut the law enforcement staff in unincorporated King County significantly, the Seattle PD could take up the slack.
    I could think of a number of retail outlets better suited to the community to be at the Westwood Village. Anything for children would be nice, or health, or elderly, or a better restaurant, or specialty food store, but I would most enjoy A MOVIE THEATER!
    I don’t remember anyone asking the neighborhood what we think, why would they?

  • OP September 30, 2009 (7:24 pm)

    Good! I hope the selection of tequila is better than that of The Junction store.

  • Chris September 30, 2009 (8:11 pm)

    Just what this neighborhood needs, easier access to liquor. The state profiting from its sale is beyond my understanding and persons being slaves to the bottle is equally outrageous !

  • IslandLvr September 30, 2009 (8:16 pm)

    A liquor store in Westwood and a Wingdome in the Junction. Life. Is. Good!!!

  • Jose September 30, 2009 (9:09 pm)

    Right on, RW and Genessee. The state system of liquor control in WA is archaic and based on puritanical principles that have no place in what should be a free market system.
    .
    Here’s a great example: the 4th Ave mega-store moved into new digs almost a month ago; yet still this week they had hundreds of items on shelves without prices or labels – everything there had to be hand-price-checked…plus they still had a bunch of product packed and unavailable that they showed to be in stock.
    .
    A private business could NOT run like that and stay open. But since it’s a state-run monopoly, anything goes. And we’re the ones short-changed.

  • Jose September 30, 2009 (9:12 pm)

    Oh, and…almost forgot about this: the one employee they had on the floor as cashier AND customer *service* had breath that stank SO bad of garlic that it was unbearable to be around him, let alone want to ask him anything that required him to speak.
    What kind of management oversight is that?

  • Genessee neighbor September 30, 2009 (10:14 pm)

    Funny…I mentioned the new location to the WS Junction liquor store guys today and they had no idea. They asked “are you sure this blog is reliable?” Of course I said, “OF COURSE – they check their sources!”

  • Genessee neighbor September 30, 2009 (10:18 pm)

    OH…and the guys at the WS store told me they didn’t even get notice that the 4th Ave. store moved until a restaurant called to say they now had to pick up their liquor from the WS store. Love our government run stores!

  • WSB September 30, 2009 (10:23 pm)

    OFGS. Well, if you care to borrow our explanation, “blog is in our name, but that’s just a publishing format – we’re not a blog, we’re a professional, commercial, journalist-run, community-collaborative news service.” That usually bridges the understanding gap :) – But I’m not surprised to hear they hadn’t heard. Our report last year about the impending closure of the Morgan Junction store didn’t start with an official announcement, either – as we wrote in that story
    https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=10032
    we found out when tipster Thomas e-mailed us to say he saw it on the Aaron’s Bicycle Repair website, when Aaron wrote he’d be moving into a larger space that the state store was vacating!

  • lynne October 1, 2009 (9:09 am)

    Ha! Love WSB … I mean WSPCJRCCNS!

  • dawsonct October 2, 2009 (11:41 am)

    The WSLCB only needs to look one state S. to see how a progressive liquor industry can be run. It is so cool to walk into a store and not need to be a detective to find locally distilled beverages, or not get the same limited number of brands of whiskies, or vast selections of sugar-sweetened kiddie-liqueurs, or some of the great liquors of the world represented by one brand. Hennesy anyone? I’d rather not. How’s the selection of armagnac, calvados, aquavit, ouzo? One, one, maybe, probably not.
    Oh, to have a liquor store run by connoisseurs and aficionados. Imagine if Murray Stinson owned a liquor store; ahh, revery!

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