If you like piña coladas, you may have escaped to the local watering hole for an umbrella-topped, pineapple-infused treat in a pre-pandemic society.

Post-COVID, however, Americans hunkered down at home and sought their alcoholic beverages from a different source: the local liquor store.

While many businesses cried out for help as their clientele entered quarantine, liquor stores did not necessarily report the same issues.

In fact, several municipal liquor stores in Faribault County boasted better business at COVID’s height.

Blue Earth Wine and Spirits showed a noticeable boost in its sales from March of 2020 through February of this year.

In March 2020, Blue Earth’s liquor sales jumped over $45,000 from $122,801 the previous year to $168,920.

Meanwhile, the liquor store’s February sales continued to rise this year at $126,767, compared to $116,518 the previous year.

At the end of last year, Blue Earth Wine and Spirits’s overall profit came in at an increase of $55,673 from 2019’s profit.

The same can be said for the Wells Liquor Depot. Their spike in sales similarly began in the early months of 2020. While their liquor sales sat at $62,633 in March of 2019, that number had risen to $103,933 the following March.

Sales continued to soar through early 2021, always coming out comparatively higher than the previous year until March of 2021.

The Wells Liquor Depot marked a staggering difference of $415,431 in profits between 2019 and 2020; the Wells Liquor Depot had reported a loss of $35,428 the previous year.

When asked what may have contributed to the spike in sales, Dave Olson, manager of Blue Earth Wine and Spirits, confirms, “It’s mostly the COVID situation.”

He continues, “With bars being closed, there was really no other alternative.” 

When faced with Blue Earth’s liquor profits over the past few years, city administrator Mary Kennedy cannot help but agree with Olson.

“It was kind of crazy when we were looking at liquor sales right during the heat of COVID,” Kennedy remembers. “In June of 2020, we made a profit of $75,000. In June of 2019, we made a profit of $35,000.”

For those without a calculator nearby, that represents a comparative increase of $40,000 in profits between the two months; a profit which has more than doubled.

Liquor sales have settled slightly since the early months of 2021. A comparison of summer sales in 2021 versus sales in 2020 shows a slight decline.

For example, Blue Earth Wine and Spirits’s sales in June of 2020 were sitting at $187,327, and dropped to $169,674 this June.

The Wells Liquor Depot saw sales of $120,788 in June of 2020, and comparatively lower sales of $114,518 this June.

Supposedly, as COVID restrictions have relaxed somewhat, a significant number of Faribault County locals have escaped to bars and restaurants to imbibe their favorite alcoholic beverages.

Nonetheless, COVID does not seem to be the only factor which influences these numbers.

In a vacuum, both Blue Earth and Wells’s liquor store sales fluctuate somewhat accordingly with the ups and downs of the pandemic.

However, this does not take into account two other liquor stores in the county: Kiester’s Municipal Liquor Store and the Elmore Liquor Store.

While Kiester’s liquor store had, in fact, boosted its 2021 profits early in the year, it reported low numbers in previous years while Blue Earth and Wells’s liquor stores were apparently thriving.

The 2019 Analysis of Minnesota Municipal Liquor Stores indicates Kiester’s Municipal Liquor Store had $175,921 in sales in 2019, with net losses of $10,490.

While fellow county liquor stores pulled themselves well into the black in 2020, that year’s report shows Kiester made just a narrow profit of $1,055, with sales of $229,323.

The Elmore Liquor Store, meanwhile, reported even higher net losses of $17,410 in 2019. Its 2019 sales were behind Kiester’s at $122,042.

The 2020 Analysis of Minnesota Municipal Liquor Stores did indicate Elmore made a slight net profit of $4,342. Their sales came in at $102,956.

Though both municipal liquor stores did bag a small profit in 2020, possibly benefitting from that COVID liquor sales boost, their profits stand in stark difference to that of Blue Earth and Wells.

Blue Earth Wine and Spirits has shown consistently steady numbers, reporting net profits of $90,470 in 2019 and an impressive $138,435 the following year, both of which leave Elmore and Kiester’s profits in the dust.

Wells represents an interesting case. The Wells Liquor Depot reported dismal numbers in 2019, with a net loss of a whopping $35,428. However, the liquor store made incredible gains during the COVID sales boom, hoisting its numbers up to a net profit of $30,341 in 2020.

Of course, the difference in numbers cannot be attributed to one variable. Each of Faribault County’s four municipal liquor stores is influenced by a variety of factors; population size, budgeting, individual expenses, and available resources.

That being said, Kennedy wonders at the affect hours have upon liquor stores’ success.

“I don’t know if the other liquor stores are open on Sundays,” Kennedy considers.

Indeed, Blue Earth and Wells’s liquor stores’ online hours indicate they are open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Kiester’s Municipal Liquor Store and the Elmore Liquor Store’s online hours announce they are closed on Sundays.

Blue Earth Wine and Spirits may also be able to attribute some of its impressive profits to Olson’s dedicated advertising efforts.

“Dave (Olson) does pretty aggressive advertising,” Kennedy acknowledges.

Olson, the liquor store’s manager of two years, confirms he gives lots of consideration to advertising.

“We try to get people to come in,” he adds. “We do have a wine club, and before we did wine tastings, but we had to go away from that due to COVID.” 

Olson also feels selection matters. “We offer a very wide selection of products and try to keep the newest things available,” he says, feeling this sets Blue Earth’s liquor store apart.

The success of municipal liquor stores is a significant matter.

While a liquor store which pulls in high profits is an asset to its community,

conversely, a struggling liquor store can sap a city of funds when it must pay up to sustain the store’s losses.

A city with a thriving liquor store, such as Blue Earth, certainly has the benefit of being able to sustain itself without city assistance.

The profits from liquor sales are kept in a proprietary fund. As deputy city clerk Echo Roggenkamp explains, “Normally, we try not to use those funds. If we do, it’s usually to offset general fund expenses.” 

Kennedy says, “What we can do with liquor store funds is open to what the City Council decides. We use the funds to keep the liquor store running, but we can also take the profit to use for other things.” 

For example, in the past, Blue Earth has used liquor store profit to fund larger park improvement projects.

“In 2018, we used some of the funds for the public restrooms on 14th Street, and also for the Giant Museum,” Roggenkamp remembers.

She emphasizes that usually, however, the funds are needed simply to offset the inevitable costs of maintaining a municipal liquor store.

Blue Earth has yet to allocate its profit from the COVID liquor sales boost.

“Those funds are still in the liquor store fund. They’re going to stay in there and offset buying liquor to sell it,” Roggenkamp clarifies.

She wonders if Blue Earth Wine and Spirits’s affluence may come in handy in the future, however.

“We did have an issue with getting stuff in recently, like aluminum cans. Usually hard-hitters like Busch that everybody wanted came in cans, and we couldn’t get it,” Roggenkamp says. “In the future, those prices could go up.”

Of course, setting the price of liquor to offset the cost of supplies is a never-ending balancing act.

Additionally, issues transpire if a city leverages a monopoly on liquor sales, raising prices sky-high simply because they are able to.

Olson assures that Blue Earth Wine and Spirits tries its best to keep prices fair, however. “We try to keep cost down as best we can,” he says. “We offer good sale prices on everything.” 

Regardless, a comforting truth remains. The next time you feel guilty about purchasing another six-pack of Bud Light or a case of White Claw, you can simply remind yourself you may be contributing to that new playground which is being constructed down the street.

Or at the very least, you are supporting a business which many might deem an essential one to the community.