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Minnesota city-owned liquor stores hit new sales mark
State Auditor’s report finds Minnesota’s city-owned liquor stores hit new high sales marks for the 26th year in a row.
MINNEAPOLIS — Municipal liquor stores in Minnesota set a new sales record in 2021, for the 26th straight year, according to a new report from the Office of the State Auditor.
The annual analysis of city-owned liquor operations found 212 stores owned by 171 cities had combined sales of $423 million in 2021, an increase of 3.2% over 2020 sales. The City of Lakeville led the pack, with a combined $19 million in sales from it’s four municipal stores.
Profits hit $36.4 million in 2021. Profits from on-sales – liquor consumed on premises – were $6.4 million, representing a 105% year-to-year jump. This was mainly due to the fact that restaurant and bar closings during pandemic in 2020 suppressed on-sale revenue.
Profits from off-sale – alcohol packaged for retail – were $30.1 million in 2021, which was a decrease of 8.5% compared to 2020.
Again, the main factor is that off-sale revenue soared during the height of the pandemic in 2020. But 2021 off-sale profits were still far higher than before the pandemic.
“This report was started out of our office as people had a lot of questions about municipal liquor stores,” State Auditor Julie Blaha told reporters Thursday.
“Where does the money go? Are they effective? Do they do what we’ll hope they’ll do?”
The City of Savage Liquor Store at The Marketplace hosted Blaha for a live, online presentation of her annual report, which also tracks how much money liquor stores return to city governments to help pay the bills.
“The past two years for the City of Savage have been very profitable. Over the past two years we’ve put more than $1 million back into the community,” Brenda Visnovec, who manages the city’s liquor operations, told KARE.
In Savage that money has recently gone to parks, libraries, the fire department, and other projects. That influx of liquor revenue takes some of the pressure of local property taxpayers.
Visnovec has spent 40 years in the municipal liquor store management profession, and during that time has seen city-owned stores thrive by looking to compete with private market stores.
“Our stores used to be dark, and municipals were known for no windows, cinder block walls, and we’ve really turned them into aesthetically appealing retail sites.”
The number of city-owned liquor stores has steadily declined over the past 30 years, while overall profits have kept setting new records.
“When you see the number of liquor stores dropping while the overall profits are increasing, I think that suggests that close attention is helping people manage these well,” Blaha remarked.
State law requires any city that loses money on its liquor operation in two years during a three-year period to hold a public hearing to consider whether it’s worth remaining in the alcohol business.
Synchronize your watches! The award-winning best new musical sets its destination to the Orpheum.
MINNEAPOLIS — You don’t need to build a flux capacitator to travel back in time and relive an ’80s phenomenon.
“Back to the Future the Musical,” which won the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, is coming to the historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis at the beginning of fall.
The London’s West End and Broadway show is based on the 1985 blockbuster film that spawned two sequels: “Back to the Future Part II” in 1989 and “Back to the Future Part III” in 1990. All three films combined grossed nearly a billion dollars.
The award-winning musical stars Caden Brauch as Marty McFly, Don Stephenson as Doc Brown and Ethan Rogers as Biff Tannen.
“Back to the Future the Musical” officially premiered at the Manchester Opera House on March 11, 2020. It then had a huge run at London’s West End beginning in 2021 and hit Broadway in August of 2023.
The musical is directed by Tony Award-winner John Rando with original music by multi-Grammy-winners Alan Silvestri (“Avengers: Endgame”) and Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”), alongside songs from the movie including “The Power of Love,” “Johnny B. Goode” and “Back in Time.”
“Back to the Future the Musical” will play at the Orpheum from Tuesday, Sept. 10 to Sunday, Sept. 22.
Tickets, which start at $50, will go on sale at HennepinTheatreTrust.org on Friday, June 14, 2024, at 10 a.m.
The production contains flashing lights, strobe effects, pyrotechnics and is recommended for ages 6 and up.
Its run time is 2 hours and 35 minutes and includes one intermission.
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Marina Dougall, 36, was last seen in Minneapolis in September of last year but wasn’t reported missing until May 2024.
ANOKA COUNTY, Minn. — The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to help find a missing Anoka County woman who they believe is without critical medication.
Marina Dougall, 36, was last seen in Minneapolis in September of last year but wasn’t reported missing until May 2024. Police said her family hasn’t heard from her since she was last seen.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released a statement Wednesday, saying Dougall was known to frequent the Franklin Avenue North area of Minneapolis as well as places throughout Anoka County and across the Twin Cities metro. Investigators said she may have been in the area of Burnett County, Wisconsin last September, before being dropped off at the Norwoood Inn in Roseville.
MISSING: Investigators believe Marina Dougall may have been in the in the Burnett County, Wisconsin, area Sept. 20-22, 2023, and then dropped off at the Norwood Inn in Roseville. Anyone with information on Marina Dougall’s whereabouts is urged to call 911. pic.twitter.com/HhfAeFGiJZ
— Minnesota BCA (@MnDPS_BCA) September 11, 2024
The BCA said Dougall has a medical condition that requires medication, and that she also has a history of mental health and substance abuse issues.
Dougall is described as 5’9 and 140 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. She also has a chipped front tooth, flower tattoos on her right hand and left shoulder, a snowflake tattoo on her right abdomen and a large tattoo on her back.
The BCA added Dougall was born in Russia and speaks with a slight accent.
If you’ve seen Dougall or know any information about her whereabouts, you’re urged to call 911 or contact the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office at 763-324-5209.
A judge handed 25-year-old Damarean Bible a 367-month sentence – 30 and 1/2 years – for killing 37-year-old Savannah Williams in November of 2023.
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis man will serve more than 20 years in prison after being convicted of second-degree intentional murder in the death of a transgender woman in November of 2023.
A Hennepin County district judge sentenced Damarean Kaylon Bible to 367 months – or 30 and 1/2 years – for fatally shooting Savannah Ryan Williams, a woman who was well-known in the Twin Cities trans community. He will serve two-thirds of that sentence behind bars.
“This senseless act of violence against a Native and Cuban transgender woman has left a family without a daughter, a partner without their person, and a community without the vibrant light that Savannah uniquely brought to every room she was in,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty following the sentencing. “Savannah deserved safety.”
Moriarty said investigators in her office conducted a thorough review to determine whether the killing was motivated by bias, but concluded they could not prove bias beyond a reasonable doubt. The county attorney did say Williams’ murder is part of a pattern of escalating attacks against trans women, particularly those who are of color. She said since 2013, 286 trans women have been killed, with 85% of those victims being Bipoc women.
Two state legislators who are members of the Queer Caucus vowed to continue work at the State Capitol to protect Minnesota’s transgender community and increase penalties against those who harm them.
“Savannah Ryan Williams was a beloved member of the trans and Two Spirit community, and she should be alive today,” said Minnesota Rep. Leigh Finke (DFL-66A). “The data is clear that trans people, especially trans people of color, suffer violence at rates far greater than our cisgender neighbors. The Queer Caucus will continue do everything in our power at the Capitol to solve this crisis, and I thank the County Attorney’s Office for sharing this commitment.”
Minneapolis police were dispatched to the 3000 block of 4th Ave. S. around 9 a.m. Nov. 29, 2023 on reports of someone not breathing. Witnesses told officers they heard a gunshot just before 6 a.m.
Investigators used surveillance video to track the shooting suspect to an apartment building where they arrested Bible.
A criminal complaint says Bible admitted to shooting Williams in the head. He told police she approached him for a sexual encounter but he began to feel “suspicious.” After the act, he shot and killed her, according to court documents. Bible reportedly confessed after police found surveillance video of him at the scene near the Lake Street light rail station.
The complaint said while in jail, Bible told his dad he “just murdered someone.” It reads that he felt sorry for killing the victim and knew he wasn’t God, but he “had to do it.”
He was convicted of second-degree intentional murder on Aug. 27, 2024.
Following her death, friends remembered Williams as a big personality who was “full of life.”
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