By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
AUG. 21, 2020 | Starting in 2012, three Peachtree Corners partners began efforts to open the city’s first liquor store. Now, eight years later, that’s about to happen.
Peachtree Corners’ first beer, wine and distilled spirits store, Corners Fine Wine and Spirits, is expected to be open 10 a.m. Wednesday, August 26 (barring unforeseen circumstances) at 5730 Peachtree Parkway, where there is a new traffic light. It is across from the RaceTrac convenience store, off a new portion of Engineering Drive eastward into Technology Park.
Partners in the story are all three Peachtree Corners neighbors. Attorney Gerald Davidson is the majority partner, and is joined by Stu Cross, a retired Coca-Cola executive, and by Libby Curry, wife of the late John Curry. Davidson previously owned a similar store in Dawsonville, which he sold in 2018.
The 10,000 square foot store will have about 20 employees. Rob Ramon of Johns Creek, with 25 years in the business, will be the general manager.
When the partners started thinking of having such a store in 2012, there was a tremendous amount of work to be done. First, the City of Peachtree Corners did not have local regulations for governing package stores. The city had provisions for selling wine and beer, and even liquor by the drink, but not for a package store.
The partners’ initial effort was to get 35 percent of those registered to vote to petition the city for a referendum on the subject. Davidson recalls: “It was on election day in 2012, and we planned to invite voters when coming out of the polls to sign our petition. We had a tent and donuts and coffee for them, and figured this was the perfect place to sign up registered voters.
“But the day turned cold, below freezing, and rainy, and few voters took the time to sign the petition. That made it harder.”
Inside the new package store
Eventually, the Davidson trio sought a speciality polling firm to obtain the signatures. “After talking with a new package store owner in Arkansas, he recommended a firm to get the signatures on the petition. And to our surprise, that firm was National Ballot Access, located in Lawrenceville. They went to work, and three or four months later had the necessary signatures to call a special election. The city referendum for package stores passed by 74 per cent in 2014.”
Then came the need to find land for the store. Davidson and his partners first sought land on Peachtree Parkway, which failed, and then at another tract. Both negotiations with the landowners proved difficult and time-consuming, as years rolled by.
Their present site was once a hole about 50 feet deep. The land also had a giant hill on it. Davidson says: “We engineered the site, and thought we could develop it ourselves. When we finally saw the numbers, it was more than we wanted to invest on our own. So we approached RaceTrac, a company with deeper pockets, and got them to sell us a pad on their property. This worked out well for both of us, and we think that we each will drive traffic to the other.”
Rick Maxian of Duluth was the architect for the building, and Wakefield Beasley of Peachtree Corners did the elevation work. The contractor was Ordner Construction of Duluth.
How important will the store be for the city? If Corners Fine Wine and Spirits grosses $1 million, the city of Peachtree Corners will get $70,000 in taxes. And Davidson feels his store will easily gross that.
It’s taken eight years. Now the City of Peachtree Corners can gain added revenue from a package store within its boundaries.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Follow Us