You may be able to transfer your liquor, beer, wine, or other alcoholic license to another business. First, check with your liquor agency (or attorney or someone who knows the liquor license law in your jurisdiction) to see if your state allows the transfer of liquor licenses. Most states do allow the buying and selling of liquor licenses because they view liquor licenses as personal property of the owner – which legally allows for the open trade of the license. Some states, however, require the owner of the liquor license to return the license to the state once the owner is done with it. Then, the state reissues the license to the next available recipient.
So, if your state allows you to legally transfer the liquor license, make sure the transfer occurs at the same physical location or locale. Remember, you cannot generally transfer your license to a store/business outside of your liquor license geographic location. That’s because liquor licenses are obtained and maintained within geographical boundaries generally determined by population.
NOTE: Many businesses sell their entire business, including the building and the liquor license to another business.
With that said, there are 3 main types of liquor license transfers:
Person to person (or business to business) in the same location
- E.g. Sam’s Beer, Inc. sells its building and liquor license to Bill’s Beer, Inc., where Bill’s Beer, Inc. will run its business in the same location as Sam’s Beer, Inc.
Place to place with the same person (or business)
- E.g. Sam’s Beer, Inc. will move from one location to another and maintain the same liquor license
"Double transfers", where both the owner and location change
- E.g. Sam’s Beer, Inc. will sell its liquor license to Bill’s Beer, Inc., and Bill’s Beer, Inc. will run its business in a different location than Sam’s Beer, Inc. But these transfers will generally remain in the same geographical locale for where that particular permit was originally bought.
You’ll likely have to pay fees and go through all the other steps for the transfer, but you’ll likely just be able to take over the permit by the previous owner instead of waiting for a new license/permit (of which there may be none left!). And that can be a BIG benefit – especially if there are no permits available at the time. Otherwise, you’ll just be waiting in line for a permit to become available. Then the law of supply and demand takes over. If everyone wants that liquor license, you likely have to pay top dollar for it!
Numerous companies actually host avenues to buy and sell liquor licenses. For example, the American Liquor License Exchange (AMLEX), BizBuySell, and Liquor License Specialists, among others, are engaged in brokering the transactions between buying, selling, and escrowing liquor licenses. That’s because most states allow you to buy and sell liquor licenses as personal property of the owner. Some states, however, require the owner of the liquor license to return the license once it is done with it. Then, the state reissues the license to the next available recipient. However, if your state treats liquor licenses as personal property, fell free to look at sites like AMLEX, BizBuySell, and the Liquor License Specialists as open-markets where you can pursue owners selling their liquor licenses.
So, what do these liquor licenses cost? Again, that varies dramatically from locality to locality based on supply and demand – kind of like buying a house or renting an apartment in different cities. If you want some numbers, check out what you can find on the Internet within your locality.
Next, we’ll look at an example of one state’s license/permit fees.