City-owned Lake Liquors in Big Lake now has online ordering and curbside pickup services available. The store has been working on this project since last year, even before the COVID-19 pandemic came to the United States. 

Pitching the Idea to City Council

Greg Zurbey, manager of the store, pitched the idea to the city council back in January of 2020. At the time, there was not a lot of demand for the service, but once the pandemic hit that changed quickly. Not many customers asked for the service directly, but with competing retail businesses offering curbside and online services, Zurbey felt that he had to follow suit to stay competitive in the long term. 

The New Service

It took several months of going through backlog before the vendor was able to set up the online store, and many hours of logging product and getting the site operational. 

Zurbey said his staff is excited to be able to offer the service going forward. He isn’t sure what to expect. He knows that some liquor stores have had to hire full-time employees to run the online store, but others have found their customers truly prefer to shop in-person. 

“The customers will decide if we need to add staff on a permanent basis,” he said.

Zurbey guesses his sales will increase with the new service, but he’s not sure if the new sales will negate the increased cost of running the online store. He also won’t be able to tell if sales on the site are coming from customers who would not give their business otherwise, or from regular patrons who find the service more convenient.

“But it is a service that is coming to most retail and customers are beginning to expect it,” Zurbey said.

Going Forward

Zurbey asks that his customers be patient as staff continues to work out issues with the software. Once they become more familiar with online ordering, Zurbey thinks he might begin to offer delivery services sometime later in the year. He hopes to get a feel for the market demand over the next several months before making a decision.

He encourages any customers with questions to call the store at 763-263-3673. The online ordering portal is available at BigLake.FroogleDelivers.com/order.php?v=1.