November 17, 2014 A regular meeting of the Liquor Committee was held on November 17, 2014 at 6:15 P.M. in the City Council Chambers of City Hall with the following persons in attendance: Liquor Committee members Dave Cushman and Fred Bern, Liquor Store Manager Greg Zurbey, City Administrator Jennifer Bromeland and Recording Secretary Dave Maschoff. (A quorum of the Liquor Committee was present.) (Liquor Committee member Donnie Schoenrock was absent.) LIQUOR STORE MANAGER REPORT For informational purposes, Zurbey distributed copies of a magazine article regarding the issue of proposed wine and strong beer sales being allowed in grocery stores. The article provided information why such a proposal would be detrimental to privately owned and municipal alcohol retail stores. Zurbey said he wanted to provide the information to the Liquor Committee members so they are informed if they are asked questions about these issues from ‘the public, He noted with the influence of big box stores moving into the metro areas, the issues of Sunday liquor sales and wine and strong beer sales may become forefront issues. Zurbey said the proposals being promoted by the big box liquor stores may eventually affect municipally owned liquor stores. He described some of the business changes that are occurring the liquor industry across Minnesota. Zurbey said anytime he comes across articles pertinent to issues affecting the Jackson Municipal Liquor Store, he will share them with the Liquor Committee. October 2014 sales Zurbey explained the Liquor Store had just over 5,200 customers during the month of October. The total sales for the month were just over $109,000 which Zurbey said was a good month, Zurbey said he could not compare the sales figures to October 2013 because that information was not available. Zurbey outlined sales on individual items. during October, 2014 as outlined in the sales report information he distributed to the Committee members. He said overall sales numbers for October were strong. Bern said he attributes the increased sales at the Liquor Store, in part, to the attitude of the employees at the store. He the store’s employees help in building the store’s customer base. Zurbey said the employees have been providing good customer service, such as helping with carry outs Cushman said the extra service makes customers feel welcome. He sait feels welcome, they will come back. if the customerZurbey invited the Committee members to a wine-tasting event at the Liquor Store on Thursday, November 20, 2014 from 6 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. He said the store’s staff will participate in a wine training prior to the event. Zurbey said he is going to try and have a liquor or wine training for the store’s staff about every six to eight weeks to keep them up to date on products. For the wine-tasting event on November 20th, one of the wine vendors will be available to answer questions and meet customers. Zurbey said the event will be promoted on the City’s Facebook Page. He said he hopes to host a wine-tasting event for the public three or four times a year at the store. Zurbey said November begins a busy season for wine sales. CREDIT CARD PROCESSING Zurbey said he was going to wait until January 1, 2015 to change the credit card processing service. He the Liquor Store's credit card processing system needs to be upgraded by November 25, 2014. Zurbey said he spoke with Bank Midwest and their credit card service provider, Shazam, who returned a counter bid to provide credit card services. However, Zurbey said the counter offer did not match the $400 dollars less it will cost for service per month in the offer made by U.S. Bank. Zurbey said he obtained an agreement with a representative of Bank Midwest that they would upgrade the Liquor Store’s current system without having to purchase a new system for $250 which will serve the store until the end of the year. Zurbey said he didn’t want to switch systems to avoid any glitches or to have to conduct staff training during the holidays. Zurbey said beginning January 1, 2015, the credit card processing system will be switched to U.S. Bank with new equipment. He said the new credit card processing system will be a “stand alone” system and will be “P.C..” compliant. Zurbey said the new system will have triple incription n ‘over the current single incription. He said it will be a much better system and will save quite a bit of money. DECEMBER LIQUOR COMMITTEE MEETING Bromeland said she would like to schedule a joint Finance and Liquor Committee meeting for December 15, 2015 to interview architectural firms regarding proposals for construction of ‘a new municipal liquor store. She said each firm could give a 30 to 45 minute presentation about their services. Bromeland asked Zurbey about the size of a proposed new liquor store. Zurbey said after visiting other municipal liquor stores, he suggested building a store with a minimum size of 5,000 square feet. He said he feels the perfect size for the Jackson community would be 6,500 square feet. Zurbey said he will offer input, but the decision regarding the size will be up to the recommendation of the Liquor Committee. He said he will work with any plan that is recommended. Bern said Zurbey is the store manager and his input is needed. Regarding promotion of events at the Liquor Store, such as the wine tasting events, Bern suggested raising the Liquor Store’s advertising budget for 2015 by $1,000.Zurbey said he has increased next year’s advertising budget by $1,000. He said he has been looking at different advertising options. Bern asked Maschoff what the cost would be to have KKOJ/KRAQ Radio in Jackson broadcast remotes from the Liquor Store on evenings the Store host a wine-tasting event. Maschoff explained there are various advertising packages available that would include a series of commercials aired leading up to the event along with the remote broadcasts. He said the packages vary in price and would have a KKOJ/KRAQ sales representative contact Zurbey to provide additional information. Bern said the radio broadcasts could provide good exposure for the event and bring people to the Liquor Store to attend the event. Zurbey is also exploring doing a promotion through the Livewire after the first of the year. He said his promotional plans also include establishing a dedicated website for the Liquor Store that would be linked to the City’s website. He said the website would provide information on the products and specials at the Store. Zurbey says he has customers calling the store asking how to find the Liquor Store’s website. He said the municipal liquor stores in surrounding ‘communities have websites. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.