Agricola Liquor store

Recent rumours that the liquor emporium on Agricola had been sold had the Shoptalk inbox abuzz, with concerns about the north-end mainstay’s fate. (OK, two people were worried. Still.) The plot thickened after a call to the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation. The NSLC actually leases the Agricola store, said NSLC manager of corporate communications Ted McInnis. “So if it was sold, it wouldn’t be us selling it. As far as I know, we still have four years left on a five-year lease.” Curiosity piqued, I called the local branch of real-estate firm Avison Young, who handled the property’s sale. They put me in contact with Toronto-based realtor Rick Tomulka, who purchased the liquor store property back in August. But before August, the NSLC was already dealing with Tomulka regarding the property, lease-wise. Tomulka’s company has long owned the lease interest in the property, just not the land it was on (which is what they bought in August). This means north-end liquor enthusiasts can rest easy for now (the NSLC was right: it has another four years left on its lease). What will happen after that point is still up in the air---the NSLC could negotiate a new long-term lease for the property, or Tomulka might decide to do something new with the space. “We could possibly look at doing a residential , with a commercial component on the main floor,” says Tomulka. But that’s all speculative, he points out. In the meantime, north enders get to enjoy at least another four years of convenient liquor access. (I’ll drink to that.)