The head of Idaho's liquor division says state liquor stores had about $10 million in additional sales from Washington customers last year.
The Spokesman-Review reports Jeff Anderson told lawmakers that the bump was not so much because the stores sold more bottles statewide, but because northern Idaho stores saw an increase in sales of higher-priced premium liquor products.
Anderson says that's because when Washington state privatized liquor sales in June of 2012, the changeover bumped up prices enough that more customers crossed the state line to Idaho to make their purchases.
Idaho's liquor division is projecting more than $170 million in sales this year, up from more than $164 million in 2013. Anderson says Idahoans' per-capita consumption of distilled spirits remains well below the national average.
