Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Liquor store at McCarran baggage claim? County delays decision

mccarranillo

LAS VEGAS SUN

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Should county leaders allow a liquor store at McCarran?

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Clark County commissioners weren't able to reach a consensus today during their meeting on proposals to open a liquor store at McCarran International Airport.

After failing to accept any of the three proposals for the store, commissioners voted to bring the issue to their next meeting to discuss whether they want a liquor store at the airport at all.

The three proposals were from Lee’s Runway Liquor, whose CEO is Hae Un Lee; Liquor Library LLC, with manager/member Richard Worthington; and Binna LLC, managing member Amer Ramo.

A five-person airport evaluation team looked at the proposals using nine criteria, including their financial proposal and the applicants’ financial stability, liquor store experience and operating plan. Proposals were rated and Lee’s Runway Liquor collected the most points, with 85.8 of a possible 100. That compared with 81 for the Liquor Library and 52.8 for Binna.

After bonus points — given for having a package liquor store license, five to 10 years’ experience operating with that license or being a small-business operator — Lee’s had 94.6 points, Liquor Library had 84.4 and Binna had 63.4.

The evaluation committee recommended Lee’s, but it is up to the commissioners to decide.

Outside duty-free stores that sell liquor in airports, county officials think no U.S. airport leases space in or near a baggage claim area to a liquor store. The airport wants to locate the store next to the escalators leading from the D gates to the baggage claim area.

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