REGINA - It was another day of massive numbers for auctioning of Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority retail liquor permits on Thursday.
Six more permits were up for bids on the day at the McDougall Auction website, and five of them saw bids in excess of a million dollars. The biggest news of the day was the wild bidding war that erupted for the retail liquor permit in La Ronge.
A flurry of 125 bids came in with the selling price topping $3.27 million for the La Ronge liquor store permit before it sold shortly before 3:30 p.m. to the bidder going by the username LakesideSpirits.
Perhaps spurring on interest in the La Ronge permit had been the news last week that the municipal government there had decided to mount a bid of their own. The eventual winning bid of $3.27 million is the largest price tag going so far for an SLGA retail permit in this auction.
The day’s bidding also saw a Saskatoon permit sold for $1.638 million, with a bid for Regina topping $1.5 million.
By 4:40 p.m., bids for the North Battleford permit had topped $1.41 million and the bidding for Weyburn stood at just over $1 million. The Humboldt permit was the only one of the day that sold for less than a million.
On Friday, the final six remaining liquor store permits will close bidding in the online auction, which will complete the auction for the 35 permits up for bid. All the permits are to replace the 34 SLGA public liquor stores that will close by the end of March, plus one previously closed Saskatoon store.
Of the liquor store permits up for bid through Thursday, the majority have been auctioned for sale prices in excess of $1 million.
