The number of state-run liquor stores in Utah lags significantly behind demand from a growing population, found a new independent report released this week.
Zions Public Finance presented a report Tuesday to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control that identified 12 locations most in need of new stores. The locations stretch from Pleasant Grove to Ogden in northern Utah.
Utah currently has 44 liquor stores- 19 fewer than allowed under state law based on a formula of one per 48,000 residents. Two new stores are set to open next year in West Valley City and in Syracuse.
“We’re not saying that the state should go and add 12 new liquor stores tomorrow,” Scott Aylett, Zions financial analyst, told the state alcohol commission. “But there is definitely a need, both in regards to population as well as consumption.”
The study validates what the alcohol commission has long believed and what a University of Utah report three years ago showed, said commission vice chair Jeff Wright.
