Liquor for Sale at 10 AM Friday
By: Mitch Carr
Updated: September 24, 2009
On Wednesday stores in Lubbock began selling beer and wine. On Friday, they'll begin selling liquor.
Rick's Place will open up at 10 AM at 82nd and Iola in southwest Lubbock. It will be the first liquor store ever within Lubbock city limits.
Rick Claybrook began leasing the location in July, hoping to be open for business by September 1. Multiple protests against alcohol sales delayed that opening three weeks. Meanwhile, Claybrook still had to pay the lease for the building that was not allowed to open. "It's not just the making money part of it. You want to try to take good care of your customers and your customer base. Being closed is not taking care of them. So we want to be open to take care of the customers we already have," Claybrook said.
Friday, Claybrook will stop losing money and begin making it back. He says people have already walked into the closed store trying to buy alcohol, only to be turned away and told to come back Friday. He expects big business when the building is actually open.
For Claybrook, it's about holding up his end of the bargain more than it is about making money.
