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Utah may not allow wine and spirits to be sold inside grocery stores, but West Valley City's new wine and liquor store will be conveniently located in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 5675 W. 6200 South.
The Division of Facilities Construction and Management (DCFM) recently bought property on the commercial site and is accepting bids to build the 13,500-square-foot building, which will include retail space, storage, a shipping area and offices.
Officials hope to break ground in September and have construction completed within eight months, said division spokeswoman Marilee Richins. The project is expected to cost $2.3 million.
Once completed, the store will be the state's 45th liquor store and the first one built since 2010. Before any new stores are built, the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control must win approval from the state building board and secure funding from the Legislature. The DABC also must get approval from the cities affected.
West Valley City is Utah's second most-populous municipality, with more than 136,000 residents, but has only one liquor store, in the northeast part of the city at 3381 S. Redwood Road.
The new wine and liquor store will be in the southwest part of the city, where population growth has exploded in recent years, said Mark Nord, director of West Valley City's Redevelopment Agency. "With all the growth and development going on in west Salt Lake County, we were due for another store."
The new store will be in a commercial area and shouldn't create any proximity issues for schools, churches or neighborhoods, he added.
Resident James Bunnell said he didn't think the location was the most convenient for residents. "I don't understand why they're putting the new store so far south, and a mere three miles from the Kearns-Taylorsville store," he said. "It would have been much more convenient to have a store on 3500 or 4100 South."
It's taken nearly two years to get the West Valley City project rolling. In 2014, lawmakers earmarked $4.4 million to buy the land and build the store. Earlier this year, another $557,000 was set aside to hire staff for it.
Even when the project is completed, it won't make a dent in Utah's liquor store needs. According to a study conducted by the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, the state needs 12 more liquor stores along the Wasatch Front — including six on the west side of Salt Lake County — to keep up with liquor sales and a growing population.
While the DABC and lawmakers have said they would like to add one new liquor store a year, state officials have had trouble finding cities willing to host new outlets.
Officials in Syracuse have said they are willing to have a liquor store, and the DABC and DCFM are looking for land in that north Davis County community.