Twas the week before Christmas and all through the state

Liquor stores are stocking and setting the bait

 

All the neon's were hung in the windows with care

In hopes all the customers soon would be there

 

If you go in an off sale and see all the elves

they'll be busy with displays and filling the shelves

 

I'll buy Uncle Bill that bottle of Brandy

and then for Aunt Sandy some wine and some candy

 

I think I'll get Dad a bottle of Gin

and brother Joe some rum and he will grin

 

Others come in and just buy some beer

that's all it takes to create holiday cheer

 

The salespeople are arriving and pitching their deals

Managers heads are filled as they are spinning their wheels

 

It doesn't feel like winter; as the temp is fine

but customers still find it necessary to whine

 

People come in to purchase some wine

Should it be red or white with which we dine?

 

As others are blessed with a week's vacation

We are prepared to sell them libation

 

As our year comes to a close we look at our books

We wonder......in our council's eyes how we will looks??

 

We hope to end our year better than last

and if that happens we'll just have a blast

 

As you lock your doors when it's time to go home

You wonder... where will they build the shiny new dome?

 

Ok.......That's the best I can do!

 

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season.

 

Nancy Drumsta

Delano Wine and Spirits

 

Miltona

Round Lake

Two Harbors

Cromwell

Anoka

Delano

Dassel

Fifty Lakes

Elk River

Paynesville

By Tom Hintgen, Fergus Falls Journal

 

The new city liquor store in Pelican Rapids opened its doors on Nov. 29, 2010. After one year, gross sales totaled $1.1 million. Store manager Bob Leslie rpeiorted the news to the city council and, at the same meeting, said that he would be retiring sometime in 2012.

 

Leslie has headed operations at the city-owned liquor store for 10 years. He headed the move a year ago from the old store on Broadway to the new store, up the steet and across from Good Samaritan Society (senior living).

 

Leslie told council members that revenues from November 2010 to November 2011 were up $188,000 from the previous 12-month period, in 2009-10. A big increase is in wine sales, five times what they were eight year ago.

 

Wine sales, thus far in 2011, are $135,000. Wine sales totaled $26,000 in 2003.

 

The new location on North Broadway includes 5,100 square feet of space. That's much more than the old location that had only 1,500 square feet.

 

Sundance Companies of Hastings, Minn., built the new city liquor store. They had the low bid of $394,000.

 

The decision to move forward with a new city-owned liquor store received city council backing in November 2008. Council members, after talking with their constituents, determined that the project would be a good long-term investment for the community of Pelican Rapids.

 

City Administrator Don Solga said the new location allows for better service and more parking. The new building, he said, also adds to the positive changes that have already taken place on main street in Pelican Rapids.

By Deloitte LLP

 

The outlook for today's retailers is a challenging one as many find themselves confronted by the fragile economic environment. The industry is in the midst of a significant restructuring unlike anything seen by the current crop of retail executives.

 

With growth and profitability far more difficult to achieve in the near term, there will be a greater need for retailers to operate more efficiently, with further emphasis placed on cost reduction, expense management, and customer centricity.

 

Innovation and knowing how, where, and when to engage consumers will likely be key attributes for success in the decade ahead.

 

In the short run, retailers will need to focus on building market share via business models that are more responsive, adaptable, and efficient with resources and assets. Consumers will be intensely value-oriented, even more so than in the recent past.

 

Top-line growth, however, will require something altogether different. Retailers will gain market share only if they are clearly differentiated from competitors, possess strong brand equity, have the ability to innovate in order to maintain differentiation, and offer a multi-dimensional, multi-channel experience that excites consumers.

 

Bootleg liquor containing toxic methanol killed 143 people and sickened dozens more who drank the cheap, illicit brew bought at small shops in eastern India, officials said Thursday. Police arrested 10 suspected bootleggers.

 

Illegal liquor operations flourish in the slums of urban India and among the rural poor who can't afford the alcohol at state-sanctioned shops. The hooch, often mixed with cheap chemicals to increase potency and profit, causes illness and death sometimes - and occasionally mass carnage.

 

 

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