Thursday was a landmark day of sorts in Columbia County.
Beer trucks began making deliveries to local stores and residents of our county began buying alcoholic beverages right here in our backyard.
For many, it seemed like a day long overdue. For others, it must have seemed like a bad dream come true.
On Wednesday, the state Alcoholic Beverage Control board granted four Columbia County businesses permits to sell beer and wine: EZ Mart in Waldo; Magnolia’s Walmart; Village One Stop and Magnolia Travel Center. A fifth applicant, The Station in Taylor, had a decision on its application postponed to Feb. 3 due to a late-arriving letter of opposition. The Loft, a bed and breakfast in downtown Magnolia, was also granted a permit.
At Magnolia Travel Center, there was an atmosphere of excitement as deliveries of beer rolled through the doors headed for the coolers. Owners Rusty and Paula McFalls said they were excited about receiving their permit, which they’d picked up in Little Rock only hours earlier.
Tracy and Tammy Johnson, owners of Village One Stop, were also happy to have both of their beer and wine permits (for on- and off-premises sales). They have a small bar area in their restaurant and expect to be serving draft beer as well as bottled beer and wine today. “We’ve been working on this for more than a year,” Tammy said with a smile as she and her husband displayed their framed permits.
What it means is that Columbia County’s majority vote to “go wet” last November now has tangible results — cases of beer and bottles of wine in class refrigerated cases in local stores.
As far as we could tell yesterday, there were also plenty of happy customers purchasing these products new to Columbia County shelves.
How much economic impact legalized alcohol will have, of course, remains to be seen. To quote the old song, “We’ve only just begun.” It is perhaps not insignificant that the Magnolia Economic Development Corp. also met on Thursday to talk about its plans and strategies for the coming year. At the meeting, it was generally agreed that more tax revenue is needed in order for Columbia County to move forward. Will alcohol sales provide that boost? Will MEDC be talking about larger sales tax figures this same time next year? No one can say for sure, but it’s possible. Customers and store owners seem to have reason to be happy; we can only wait and see what all of the results of yesterday’s alcohol shipments will bring.