WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — The process of getting a new ABC store has been in the works for years, but that wait is finally over.
Since the fall of 2019, the storefront was moved temporarily after the ABC Board and the developer of the Galleria project, State Street Companies failed to reach an agreement to extend the lease for the ABC store while the new location was finished.
Now, located just a quarter-mile down the road from where the longtime former ABC store stood, it’s new iteration is welcoming customers with a brand new look.
Why the switch?
While the opening of a new ABC store is not in and of itself a unique concept, the reason for the new store was. Essentially, the ABC store was relocated at the behest of State Street Companies (although ABC officials denied the move was to benefit a private developer). The Galleria project is a planned mixed-use development on property including the old ABC store location.
But in order to have the right footprint for the project, the developer suggested a plan that would see the razing of a mobile home park to make way for the new store, land swaps between the City of Wilmington and the Town of Wrightsville Beach, and the payment of nearly $3 million by the ABC Board to construct the new store.
The ABC Board was hesitant to the request at first, according to former ABC Board member Bruce Shell.
“Initially there was some resistance from the board on it,” Shell said in a previous interview. “We had a store, the store was fine and we didn’t feel we needed a new one.”
But after some convincing from the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County, the board ultimately gave the swap the greenlight. Both the city and county agreed to take the $3 million hit in profits to build the new store, it was ultimately approved.
“It was a project the city and the council looked on favorably, in terms of the economic development of the area,” Shell said.
Regardless of the reasons, the new store is open with regular store hours of 9 a.m. — 9 p.m. from Monday to Saturday.
