The novel idea of adding a liquor store to the baggage claim area at McCarran International Airport was first raised in early 2010 as a way to increase revenue, after county attorneys and business licensing officials determined that as a concession, the concept was legal and not subject to any restrictions or prohibitions. If it goes ahead, it will be the first baggage-claim liquor store in the country, with the potential to bring in an estimated $400k to $600k annually.
Qualifying retailers were invited to bid for the franchise, but only two companies stepped up. The winner, announced in August 2010, was successful local discount chain Lee's Liquor (see "QoD" 1/27/2012), with its proposal for a location called Lee's Runway Liquor, which the company intended to run it as a partnership separate from the Lee's Discount Liquor stores.
Following the announcement about the proposal in February, regular updates appeared in the media, culminating in a report in the Las Vegas Sun in October of 2010, stating that, "The Clark County Commission appears poised to approve an airport liquor store contract Tuesday with Lee’s Runway Liquor LLC ... The store will be allowed to sell liquor directly to customers or through the Internet, with customers picking up their online purchases in an 'assigned area.'" The proposed hours of operation were to be daily from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m., with no open containers permitted within 1,000 feet of the store.
Then, nothing much was heard of about the project until late December last year, when the R-J reported that airport management had served notice on Lee's Runway Liquor that it would be in default if it did not commence construction by Dec. 30 of that year. That did not transpire, and so the Clark County Board of Commissioners formally terminated the contract with Lee's, which claimed that disagreements over the partnership's structure had stonewalled any progress, leaving the door open for the only other horse in the race, a project called Liquor Library.
It now looks as though the scheme is back on track and that you could be able to purchase booze in the baggage claim area as early as by fall of this year, according to a recent report in the Las Vegas Sun, which includes an artist's rendition of what the store will look like.
