(SEATTLE TIMES) — Kulbir Singh was in Seattle visiting friends in February when he heard the state might be privatizing the liquor sales it has tightly controlled since the end of Prohibition.
Two months later, the Indiana businessman was the winning bidder for nine Washington liquor stores, adding to a list of businesses he owns that include a hotel, gas station and car wash near his Brazil, Ind., home.
The big enticement? Sales volume.
"The volume is awesome high," Singh said. "They are very clean stores too, very nice, but we are going to have some competition."