Shelves in place for 22,000 Bottles of Distilled Spirits
CRAVEN COUNTY – Perhaps the nickname came from being a chip off the old block – you see, Chagnon’s father owned and operated three liquor stores in Massachusetts. Fast forward six or seven decades, and now Chip Chagnon serves as the Chairman of the Craven County Alcohol Beverage Control board – ‘ABC’ for short.
He is a walking – and enthusiastic – encyclopedia of liquor retail. So when he pours out some amazing statistics, like his estimate that a fully stocked, state-of-the art (even glistening) new facility might initially display a whopping 22,000 bottles . . . well, this reporter is a believer!!
Recently, Chagnon and two top-ranking staffers, Paul Brown and Brooke Saylor, gave me an entertaining tour of the soon-to-open store on Hwy. 17 in Bridgeton, just a mile or so north of the Neuse River Bridge.
And I should add that right next door (being simultaneously constructed) is a monstrous warehouse that will receive product every Wednesday morning – ordered, of course, from state
ABC Headquarters in Raleigh.
Total tab for the two buildings? A cool $5.3 million. “We’re already paying the mortgage,” chuckled Chagnon. “And, let me say that First Citizens Bank has been great to work with!”
Next week, readers get a peek at the inner-workings of a successful, multi-store, county-wide ABC retail / warehouse system. Until then, peruse the Top Ten ‘Bottle Sales Rankings’ from Craven ABC Store #5 located at 2003 Glenburnie Road. The tally covers three months, ending Sept. 30, and makes for some interesting reading:
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