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Thursday, May 2, 2013
VOL. 18, NO. 39
Liquor stores struggle with privatization By Nathan Whalen Staff Reporter
Nearly a year after a voter approved ballot initiative allowed liquor to be sold in large retail stores, the former stateowned and contract liquor stores on Whidbey are struggling. The liquor store in Oak Harbor closed in late 2012 while contract liquor stores in Coupeville and Freeland saw sales plummet by more than half since privatization went into affect. “It’s not going well,” said Pam Smith, owner of Coupeville Liquor on North Main Street, adding she’s not ready to jump ship. Coupeville’s Liquor store now competes with local grocery stores. She estimates that her business dropped about 60 percent since the market flooded with competitors. Ken Vaughan, manager of Freeland Liquor, said he’s lost a similar amount of business since privatization. His store is located close to a grocery store, which also started selling spirits after June 2012. When stores that were at least 10,000 square feet were legally able to sell alcohol, the number a businesses where people could buy booze skyrocketed. Initiative 1183 was approved by voters in 2012, and allowed large stores to sell alcohol beginning in June 2012. Prior to privatization, 328 businesses, both state-owned and contract stores, were able to sell liquor. After privatization, that number jumped to more than 1,500, according to the Washington State Liquor Control Board. On Whidbey Island, grocery stores such as Safeway, Prairie Center and Payless Foods, started selling liquor. Smith said in the months after privatization, she continues to diversify her offerings and offer spirits people won’t find in the larger supermarkets and pharmacies. “When they need a bottle of something really weird, they won’t find it anywhere on the island,” Smith said about what might happen if her business closed. She also started stocking craft beers and wines out of the North Main Street store she has operated since 1995. In addition to its eclectic selection of liquor, customers also enjoy the springtime appearance of young farm animals such as goats. This year, she has a rescue See STRUGGLE, page 16
Nathan Whalen photo
Above: Greg Lange, owners of Draft Works Logging and Custom Farming guides Otto and Jim, two American Belgian draft horses, through a field on the edge of Ebey’s Prairie where they were planting grain. Below left: Georgina Silby of Grain Shadow farm pours seed into the hopper of a grain drill. Two draft horses pulled the 70-year-old implement to seed a field at the edge of Ebey’s Landing.
Horse power: Farm tries new tool Freeland farming man incorporates equine energy By Nathan Whalen Staff Reporter
The pastoral landscape of Whidbey Island was the scene Wednesday of something that hadn’t been seen for years. Rather than the tractors that dot the
landscape of rural Whidbey Island, one man was using two fairly large horses to do some similar work. Greg Lange, owner of Draft Works Horse Logging and Custom Farming, brought his two draft horses up from his Freeland-based farm to plow seven acres of land located on the edge of Ebey’s Prairie off Fort Casey Road near Coupeville. “On the right scale, they are a better and more holistic way to get things done,” Lange said while he was guiding his horses along the field as they pulled a 70-year-old seed driller through the field. Pulling the seed driller were a pair of See PLOWING, page 16