State opens new liquor store in Hampstead

HAMPSTEAD, N.H. — The state's 78th liquor store will open in Hampstead this fall in a new shopping plaza being built off Route 111.

The state's newest liquor store will be located in a 21,600-square-foot retail complex under construction at the corner of Emerson Avenue and Route 111.

It will provide a closer location for people living in Hampstead, Atkinson and several surrounding towns, which currently don't have a liquor store, State Liquor Commission Chairman Mark Bodi said.

The new plaza also will include a Lobster Tale Restaurant, Honey Dew Donuts and Xtra Mart Convenience Store, said G. Bradley Richards Jr., owner of Rye Construction, the Hampton company building the complex. Other Lobster Tale Restaurants are in Windham and North Andover, Mass.

The nearest state liquor store is on Route 125 in Plaistow near the Haverhill, Mass., line. Other state liquor stores in the area are in Salem, Derry, Londonderry and Pelham.

"Despite the sluggish economy, New Hampshire continues to outperform national trends in terms of liquor sales," Bodi said.

Liquor sales for the state are seeing annual increases of more than 5 percent, he said.

According to the most recent liquor commission report, net sales of liquor and wine increased $20.6 million last year over the previous year. Figures for the fiscal year that ended two months ago have yet to be released.

Overall gross revenue generated by liquor sales exceeds more than $400 million a year, Bodi said, with net proceeds of more than $100 million going into state coffers annually.

"By opening this new store location, we hope to extend additional shopping convenience to people living in the area,'' Bodi said. "We are excited about this convenient, high-profile location.''

The Hampstead store is expected to open in late November or early December, he said.

The liquor store and convenience store will be the first tenants in the plaza to open for business, Richards said. After these stores open, the shopping center will take another six months to complete, and tenants will move in gradually over that period, he said.

The shopping center will be called Hampstead Station in honor of a former restaurant that was located there, Richards said. The massive building that housed Hampstead Station, which was the original home of East Coast Lumber, was torn down after the restaurant closed in late 2003.

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A new state liquor store is being built on the corner of Emerson Avenue and Route 111 in Hampstead.