At the Lexington municipal liquor store sales were up by more than 30 percent. Store manager Jack Borgen says business was non-stop on some days as customers stocked up.
“Especially in the beginning, nobody knew exactly what was going on,” said Borgen. “So some people wanted to err on the side of caution, maybe spent a little more thinking we might get shutdown.”
It turned out liquor stores were considered essential and stayed open. Lexington Liquors hired more help to meet the spike in business. Borgen expects this year to be busy as well, but less chaotic.
“We think it’s going to be somewhere in the middle. We think there’s going to be increased business, but we don’t think it will be like it was say last spring and summer,” said Borgen. “As far as the numbers, it’s anybody’s guess, really. We’re going to go with ten to 15 percent increase.”
Since it is a municipal store, profits go into a fund that can be tapped by the city to help keep taxes down. Last year, $175,000 went into the general fund.
