Kountry Wine and Spirits makes history in Eupora as first liquor store

EUPORA, Miss. (WCBI) – For decades, Eupora has been a dry city in a dry county.

That has changed.

Kountry Wine and Spirits made history as the first package store in the town.

Eupora Mayor Blake McMullan said he’s seen a boom in business and a rise in popularity since residents voted to lift the ban on alcohol. He expects a continued rise now that wine and spirits are available.

“When we passed beer sales two years ago, we started seeing people from 30 miles away coming into Eupora on Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night. This is just gonna add to that volume of people. It’s gonna help our restaurants. It’s gonna help our grocery stores. This helps our gas stations. It helps all the other retail stores that we have in the area,” said McMullan.

The mayor said this was the economic boost the town needed.

“The biggest initiative here is to try to keep a dollar in Eupora, Mississippi. Because only have sales tax and property taxes and so this is another opportunity where can keep a dollar in the city of Eupora. And get sales tax and they spend it somewhere else so we hope that this will touch a lot of families,” said McMullan.

The owner of Kountry Wine and Spirits, Dontereze Young, said Eupora was overdue for change.

“We wanted to bring something new to the town. We thought this would be a good addition to the tobacco store and to the restaurant, with it all being connected together. We hope it helps the town grow a little bit more especially with us being the only one in the surrounding areas for Choctaw County, also this side on Montgomery County,” said McMullan.

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