Athens residents and students don’t have to look far to find an establishment that serves or sells alcohol, between uptown bars and a variety of retail shops.
But those looking to take home something a little harder have considerably fewer options.
Within city limits, only one establishment is allowed to sell top-shelf liquor: Kroger on East State Street.
In the county as a whole, there are two: Kroger and The Pit Stop in Nelsonville.
“I feel like there should be one Uptown so that the drunk people don’t have to drive to State Street to get liquor,” said Jonathan McLaughlin, a second-year student at Hocking College studying ecotourism.
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In Ohio, spirituous liquor, which is 42 proof or higher, can only be sold by the Division of Liquor Control through state-approved contract agencies. All sales go to the state, but the agency is allowed to make 6 percent commission on the sales.
Matt Mullins, spokesperson for the Division of Liquor Control, said the system encourages a “trading up” strategy — offering fewer, higher-quality products for those willing to go out of their way to obtain them.
“Part of the control state philosophy is we’re providing these products because Ohioans want them,” Mullins said. “There isn’t going to be a liquor store in every area.”
Alex Baumann, a OU senior studying business management and strategic leadership, said he could see both sides of the issue.
“I would say maybe another store should sell it so that it’s not just a monopoly with Kroger,” he said. “But I don’t think any closer to campus would be too beneficial because students would take advantage of that and there’d be a problem with alcoholism.”
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Ohio currently has over 200 of those agencies, which is far below the 467 it is currently legally allowed to have, according to Ohio Revised Code.
Each county can have no more than five agencies, unless its population exceeds 40 thousand people.
“There are no Ohio counties that have the maximum number of Contract Liquor Agencies as allowed under the statutes,” Mullins said in an email.
Many of those contract liquor agencies are Kroger stores.
Jennifer Jarrell, a regional spokeswoman for the chain, said there are currently 55 stores in her division that have contracts. That division, which includes central and northwest Ohio as well as the Ohio Valley region, includes 123 total stores.
“Having a contract liquor agency within our store provides an added convenience for customers,” she said in an email. “A liquor agency is a point of difference for Kroger and can attract new customers into our stores.”
Mullins said the Division of Liquor Control hasn’t created many new contracts in recent years, although existing contracts are transferred from establishment to establishment fairly often.
Kroger’s contract was created in 1988 but wasn’t transferred to the Athens Kroger until 2011.
The most recent new contract was created in April for Franklin County.
Mullins said there’s no clear formula to determine whether a new agency should be created.
“There’s kind of a complex number of factors,” he said. “Generally speaking if there’s a population that’s growing rapidly, we might issue a new contract. … It really hasn’t increased very much over the last 8 to 10 years.”
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Gary Edwards, who owns The Pit Stop in Nelsonville as well as Busy Day Market on West Stimson Avenue, said he would likely apply for a contract at his Athens store if the state were to create another contract for Athens.
“Athens could use a few more,” he said. “They’ve really kept the numbers relatively small. They just never wanted to be perceived in promoting alcohol.”
Mullins also said offering too many contracts wouldn’t just make it seem like the state was promoting alcohol — it would just be bad business.
“These are private businesses run by private companies and it doesn’t really necessarily help our sales or their business if there are multiple contracts right next to each other,” he said.
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