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The auction for the first lot of SLGA liquor permits began slowly Monday morning but ramped up quickly by the end of the day.
The permits up for grabs were for stores in Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Watrous and Carlyle.
The Saskatchewan government announced in October that it was closing down the remaining 34 SLGA liquor stores.
“It’s not a core business of government, in our view. We’ve seen private stores that have been operating for decades now under various governments of various stripes in the province, and we’re going to be exiting that business,” Premier Scott Moe said at the time.
When the auction started Monday, each of the available permits started at an initial bid of $100 but began to jump up quickly. By late afternoon, the permit for Saskatoon had hit $100,000, the Prince Albert and Watrous permits had risen to $45,000 (the highest bid from the same user), Carlyle’s permit was at $25,100, and the permit in Regina was at $3,000.
Those were just the bids near the end of the first day; the auction isn’t set to close until Feb. 15.
The successful bidder will have to go through the SLGA permitting process, meeting the authority’s criteria, and will have to set up and open the store within 18 months.
There are six groups of permits to go up for auction, with the last opening Feb. 15 and ending Feb. 24.