Owner Donnie Knight, left, of Ridge Package Store is pictured above with customer Ramona Cooper on Wednesday Aug. 10, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 12:45 p.m. Aug. 15.
Wine sales at Ridge Package Store on Oak Ridge Turnpike dropped about two-thirds in one month after grocery stores started selling wine on July 1, and owner Donnie Knight announced his family-owned store is shutting down in October.
“The wine in grocery stores was the final nail for me,” Knight said Wednesday. “I can’t survive.”
Knight said he had been considering leaving the business for a while, but “this just confirmed it for me.”
He estimates he lost 5 percent to 6 percent of his customer base at a time when he didn’t think he could lose even 1 percent.
Knight, the only employee at the store, said he had hoped to close October 1, but it could be later in October, or as soon as he is able to liquidate.
Ridge Package Store is the current oldest licensed liquor store in Oak Ridge, of all that are still operating under the same license, Knight said. Every other store has a newer operator.
“Red” Williams opened the first liquor store, Oak Ridge Package Store, in February 1968, according to Knight and Red Williams’ son, Joe Williams. It’s now under a different owner.
Knight and his mother Reba Monday bought Ridge Package Store from Doc Overstreet on October 1, 1984. Reba Monday has been in the liquor business since 1968, Knight said.
He said he’s heard that two liquor stores have closed in Knoxville, and a third could. The “scuttlebutt” among those in the industry is that 30 percent of small stores could go out of business, Knight said.
“We just can’t compete,” he said.
He said wholesalers cater to grocery and big box stores, and some large stores can sell a box of wine for less than he can pay to buy it.
There were once 15 liquor stores in Oak Ridge, and the number is down to six now, including his store, Knight said.
“It is a shame to lose our small businesses, which are run by hard-working individuals,” customer Linda Wallace said. “I will miss the owner as he always shared with me great recipes to go along with my wine or alcohol purchases.”
Knight said he works about 70 hours per week—12 hours per day, six days a week—so he plans to take some time off after his store closes. He last had time off in 2004 for a back surgery.
He said there haven’t been many new retail businesses on the east end of town, and that’s also affected him.
“We haven’t had any growth on the east end of town for years,” he said.
He discussed some of the concessions made to package stores under the new law allowing wine in grocery stores. They can sell such items as beer and cigarettes, but that turns liquor stores into convenience stores and that has its own issues, Knight said.
He also discussed the new classes required to sell wine under the new state law, new certifications, and a new $200 permit.
Ridge Package Store is open Monday, Thursday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The store sells liquor, wine, and liqueur, as well as bar supplies, shot glasses, and corkscrews.
“We’ve had a good run,” Knight said.
His family has a long entrepreneurial history in Oak Ridge. His grandfather drove a workers’ bus for the Fox family and worked for the fire department at Grove Center before starting Shorty’s Cab with a personal car as a taxi. His grandfather used his connections to get pole-mounted phones installed at Jackson Square, where he could receive calls for taxi service, and he eventually opened an office on the west end of town, Knight said.
Knight said his mother and stepfather owned Checker Cab Co., and his mother once worked for Lefty Brannon at the West End Package Store.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Ridge Package Store is pictured above on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
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