April 21 - 27, 2017
As easy as ABC?
As an ABC store in Stokesdale takes a step forward, we look at the differences in how local ABC boards operate and profits are distributed by STEVE MANN NW GUILFORD – All bourbons are not the same. Neither are the state’s ABC boards. While the 168 ABC boards in North Carolina follow the same general statutes, regulations, tax guidelines and uniform pricing requirements, there are some differences in how they operate and distribute revenue. After the Stokesdale Town Council approved a resolution March 9 inviting the Greensboro ABC Board to partner with Stokesdale to bring an ABC store to town, there were questions about those differences. For example, even though the ABC stores in Oak Ridge and Summerfield are about 6 miles apart and opened about
the same time – Oak Ridge in 2005 and Summerfield in 2006 – they are controlled by different ABC boards. How do the boards and revenues compare? And with the Stokesdale Town Hall just 5.3 miles from the ABC store in Oak Ridge and 8.3 miles from the one in Summerfield, how is the feasibility and possible impact of an ABC store in Stokesdale determined – guesstimation or formula? “It’s a rigorous process, an involved process,” Vickeé Armstrong, the CEO of the Greensboro ABC Board, said. “It’s a business,” Gregory Bradsher, administrator of Triad Municipal ABC Board based in Winston-Salem, said. “You really want to set it up with good, sound business practices.”
U.S. 220 lane shift scheduled for April 26 NCDOT has scheduled a lane shifting on U.S. 220 in Summerfield beginning Wednesday, April 26; both northbound and southbound traffic on U.S. 220 will be switched to the new outside lanes between both ends of Summerfield Road, which will allow the contractor to work on the median and the inside lane in both directions.
IN THIS ISSUE News in Brief.................................3 Your Questions.............................4 Summerfield Town Council.........6 Youth/School News................... 10
Oak Ridge’s ABC store in Oak Ridge Commons shopping center is one of 14 under the Triad Municipal ABC Board, which has stores in Davie, Forsyth, Guilford and Yadkin counties. The board owns 12 store buildings – including the one in Oak Ridge – and leases two. Summerfield is one of 16 stores under the Greensboro ABC Board, and the only one outside Greensboro. Although Armstrong said the board prefers to own its locations, it leases 12, including the one in Summerfield. The Summerfield store opened in March 2006 and moved in May 2011 to its current location on U.S. 220 in the Renaissance Shopping Center. The store was moved “to provide more visibility to and accessibility for patrons,” according to Summerfield’s Fiscal Year 2013 Operating Budget & Budget Ordinance. Stokesdale’s resolution with the Greensboro ABC Board lists property at 8302 Belews Creek Road, a retail shopping center anchored by Dollar General, as the proposed site. An official with the company that owns and operates the property said the proposed ABC store would be built on a 2-acre outparcel. The boards’ feasibility checklists are similar. “We analyze to the nth-degree what effects (an ABC store) might have on an existing area and determine what would be the demand for the store,” Armstrong said.
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Don’t miss this year’s performances of “Seussical the Musical,” presented by Northwest Guilford High School. (Above) Senior Lindsey Mead portrays the Cat in the Hat, the self-proclaimed “host and emcee” of the show. See story on p. 11.
Student Profiles.......................... 12 NWO Real Estate........................ 13 Spring Parade of Homes........... 14 Real Estate Briefs........................ 18 Real Estate Transactions...........20 Crime/Incident Report..............22 Community Calendar...............23 Letters/Opinions........................24 Grins & Gripes............................25 Classifieds.................................. 27 Index of Advertisers.................. 31
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