Liquor Licenses Spike 1 Year After Sales Law Changed

It's been one year since strong beer and wine have been able to be sold in convenience and grocery stores across the state.

The ABLE Commission, who regulates alcohol in Oklahoma, said it's seen an major increase in revenue, and a lot of it is coming from new employee licenses. Now that different convenience stores and grocery stores can sell strong beer and wine, thousands of employees had to get new licenses.

In June of 2018 there were more than 58 thousand active employee licenses. One year later, that number jumped to more than 129 thousand active employee licenses.
Each new licenses costs $30, which is more than $2 million coming into the state agency. 

On the other hand, when it comes to liquor stores across the state, numbers weren't so strong. The ABLE Commission said nearly two dozen liquor stores closed in the past year, due mostly to competition now with grocery and convenience stores.

In total the Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma said they believe more than 200 stores will close before the market eventually evens out.