No bourbon raffle? New downtown Raleigh ABC store skips popular tradition
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- Downtown Raleigh opens an ABC store in 2025, but will skip the bourbon raffle
- Officials cite limited parking and delayed bourbon shipments as reasons
- Store will host a ribbon-cutting on Nov. 10, with raffles possible at Christmas
For the first time in 40 years, downtown Raleigh will have its own ABC store, an expansion triggered by a “renaissance” in the city’s growing center.
But as Wake County prepares to open its new liquor outlet on Salisbury Street, it will skip the traditional “bourbon raffle” treasured by devotees of fine booze.
Normally, these raffles draw crowds topping 500 seeking a chance to buy the most exquisite, hard-to-find whiskey.
But the Salisbury Street store offers too little parking for a liquor lottery, and the most sought-after bourbons will not be shipped before late November. So wait till Christmastime for a yuletide lottery (details to come, ABC promises).
“We are aware this is disappointing and not what any Bourbon connoisseur wished to hear,” wrote Bryan Hicks, ABC general manager, in a letter to customers. “We appreciate the patience and understanding.”
Lotteries at newly christened ABC stores have long attracted aficionados in large packs — most recently in Youngsville when the barn-like store opened in May.
“We were driving through that area and were shocked at all the cars parked on the sides of the roads around it,” wrote Amy Sheppard on a Franklin County Facebook page. “We joked it was all for the ABC store... not realizing it actually is!!”
A lottery in Pender County near the coast drew 300 to rural Burgaw last year, an exciting enough event that a local YouTuber posted about it.
“I showed up an hour beforehand, and I was pretty far back in the line,” he wrote. “Some guys had driven from hours away.”
It is no consolation prize, but the Salisbury Street store will hold a ribbon-cutting on Nov. 10 — raffle not included.
“We understand that this is what piques interest,” Hicks wrote, “not seeing the ceremonial formalities.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2025 at 12:09 PM.