On Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:15:07 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:05:59 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 3/21/13 12:57 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:38:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 3/21/13 11:30 AM, wrote:

OK liquor store, that license will cost at least $250,000 in Florida
and I imagine any other place that limits the number of licenses.

Huh?

http://tinyurl.com/c73fdqr

That is how much the state charges the lucky winner of the lottery but
the number of licenses are limited and they become instantly more
valuable once you own one.
Depending on what county you live in and the demand the sky is the
limit when you want to buy one.
Typically the state requires you to actually operate under the license
for a while before you can sell it, to avoid speculators.



Ahh, the "private" market. $$$ uber alles, eh?

More like the government restraining trade by limiting the number of
licenses. Any time you limit supply, you drive up the price.
I bet that when those laws were originally passed, the licenses were
doled out to political cronies and people who paid the public
officials directly.
Maryland has a quota system too. (one license per every 1000 people in
the census by county). That is a fairly generous number of licenses
but I bet some counties still have licenses that will sell for 100
grand.



Well, opinions differ as to how many liquor stores are needed in a given
area.

Starting at the county line and just counting the liquor stores along
Route 4 down past Prince Frederick, I know there are at least 15,
because every time I'm on that road, and that's pretty much every day, I
see them. Several of them are "drive through" liquor stores.

Hell, we have at least four times as many churches in the area as liquor
stores, and at least twice as many banks.

I don't see reasonable limits on the number of liquor stores as
"restraining trade." There's about 80,000 people living in this county.
We sure as hell don't "need" 80 liquor stores.


You don't think the market would decide that? You also have to include
bars and some restaurants in that number depending on how the law is
written. In Florida a class A license is needed to own a liquor store
but you can also operate a "lounge" under that license. That is why
you see one at most big liquor stores here,

I am kind of curious about how the Walmart/Walgreens/Costco stores are
impacting that model.

Maybe eventually, but in the mean time there'd be a liquor store on
every corner. Is that something you'd like to see? I'm sure it would
enhance your neighborhood, but not mine.