Local ABC store to expand

First built in 1980, with only an update to the sales floor in 2021, the Clinton ABC Board has asked Clinton City Council to approve the transfer of $250,000 to the 2024-25 Fiscal Year Capital Expenditure budget so they would be able to expand the ABC Store in Clinton.

At a meeting last Tuesday night, Perry Solice, chairman of the Clinton ABC Board, spoke to Council, laying out the renovation plans the board had come up with to expand the store.

“Normally, I give the mayor a check, but tonight I’m not doing that,” Solice joked as he stood at the podium before making his request. “We would like to increase the store and the store’s area with a larger storage, a loading and unloading dock and also a front facade.”

Solice told council members that the money they were requesting be added to the capital expenditure budget was funds generated by the revenue of the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Tyler Baxter, the treasurer for the ABC Board, had sent a letter to the board asking for the approval to transfer the funds. In the letter, Baxter wrote that the Clinton ABC Board got in contact with Smith Engineering and Design, PA, in May of 2023 to provide documents showing an expanded stock room, adding a new loading area and an increase in the sales floor while also updating the exterior of the building.

They were given the documents back, and the board then showed the council what the renovation plans looked like.

“Through this expansion, we’re adding approximately 550-square foot of showroom space,” Baxter explained. “(This would) expand the length of the aisles and accommodate the ever-expanding line-up of products that the state ABC board is releasing.”

In order for this renovation to take place, Baxter explained that the manager’s office and staff bathrooms would be moved to the existing warehouse, and they would add along to the back of the building as well.

Baxter said the expansion would also bring in around 3,200-square feet of added warehousing space, and would also allow them to add a loading dock.

“Right now, the truck pulls up, the truck driver unloads it, and we bring it through rear double doors,” Baxter explained. “So, we’re gonna add a roll-up door, add a covered area where they can stage it a little better — allow it to be broken down there and then brought into the store.”

Having a covered loading dock would also help in times of inclement weather, Baxter noted, adding that was especially important since the trucks follow their own schedule, and product comes in when it comes in.

As for the update to the front entrance, Baxter detailed how they would make it look more “welcoming” for the customers by adding a vestibule upfront that can serve as an airlock. They would also be doing more cosmetic work by adding stone along the bottom and painting the building to make it look more modern.

Solice told the board if they allowed the transfer of funds, renovations on the building would start after the first of the year.

“We haven’t put it out to bid yet,” Baxter pointed out. “We wanted to ensure that our ways of going about it were in place.”

Baxter did say that the anticipated construction timeline would be between seven and eight months.

“We’ve kind of phased it as such to hopefully avoid any kind of issues with customer shopping. (We) tried to phase it where we’re adding on to the rear and doing things that wouldn’t affect the customer that’s inside the business,” Baxter said.

He did mention that they would more than likely do the same as they did with their first renovation when it took to renovating the actual sales floor. This would mean moving sales to the back and serving out of the double doors while construction takes place on the actual sales floor.

Baxter stressed they were trying to limit the issues that could crop up if they shut down the front of the store for a long period of time during the renovations.

The City Council approved the fund transfer unanimously.