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Utah liquor store opens in the closed Red Butte Cafe

A DABC outlet three times bigger is being built nearby on Salt Lake City’s east bench.

(Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune) This state liquor store at 1615 Foothill Drive in Salt Lake City is now closed. A new stores has opened nearby at the former Red Butte Cafe.

The aging state-run liquor store on Foothill Drive in Salt Lake City closed this weekend and for the next two years will operate in a building two blocks north.

The temporary store opened Monday at 11 a.m. and is located at 1414 S. Foothill Drive — inside the closed Red Butte Cafe, the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control said in a news release.

Employees spent the weekend moving stock from the old store to the temporary site, DABC spokesman Terry Wood said. The quick turnaround means minimal disruption for holiday shopping.

The 38-year-old store at 1615 S. Foothill Drive — in the Lamplighter Square Shopping Center — is one of the smallest stores in the state. It soon will be torn down along with several adjacent office buildings, apartments and the former Skyline Inn for a redevelopment project.

A new state liquor store, three times the size of the current one, will be the anchor tenant. Wood said construction is expected to take 18 to 24 months.

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