POTABLE SPENDING

In the second quarter of 1988, the most recent period from which information is available, county residents spent in excess of $44 million in package liquor stores, with the largest amount, $5.4 million, expended in Anaheim. However, Costa Mesa residents recorded the highest per capita spending. Here’s the city-by-city look:

* Taxable Per Capita City Sales Amount Spent Costa Mesa $3,706 $40.33 San Clemente 1,356 36.16 Laguna Beach 779 32.12 Tustin 1,392 30.43 La Habra 1,468 30.08 Orange 2,842 27.09 Stanton 703 24.84 Huntington Beach 4,556 24.27 Westminster 1,729 23.43 San Juan Capistrano 549 22.50 Anaheim 5,464 22.49 Santa Ana 4,878 21.07 Newport Beach 1,399 20.10 Seal Beach 538 19.67 Fullerton 1,908 17.25 Brea 517 15.81 Buena Park 966 14.59 Fountain Valley 787 14.13 Garden Grove 1,823 13.57 Cypress 548 12.66 Placentia 427 10.39 Irvine 904 9.23 COUNTYWIDE TOTAL 44,478 19.82

COUNTY COMPARISON

Los Angeles $170,868 $19.97 Orange 44,478 19.82 Riverside 18,121 19.15 San Diego 39,009 16.76 San Bernardino 17,321 13.97

Note: Comparable information for La Palma, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Villa Park and Yorba Linda not available.

* Amounts stated in thousands of dollars

Source: State Board of Equalization

WRAPPING PACKAGES County entrepreneurs contemplating the package liquor business would do well to look to Yorba Linda and Irvine. According to the State Board of Equalization, these two locations have the most favorable ratios of residents to stores, far in excess of other cities. Here’s how county cities compared in the first quarter of 1988 (the latest period from which information is available), listed from most to least residents per existing package store:

Package Residents City Stores Per Store Yorba Linda 2 23,025 Irvine 5 19,580 Placentia 6 6,850 San Juan Capistrano 4 6,100 Fullerton 20 5,530 Buena Park 12 5,517 Santa Ana 48 4,823 Garden Grove 28 4,796 Newport Beach 15 4,640 Seal Beach 6 4,558 Orange 24 4,371 Fountain Valley 13 4,285 Huntington Beach 45 4,171 Brea 8 4,088 Los Alamitos 3 4,033 Tustin 12 3,813 San Clemente 10 3,750 Anaheim 67 3,627 Cypress 13 3,331 La Habra 15 3,253 Westminster 24 3,075 Laguna Beach 8 3,031 Costa Mesa 32 2,872 Stanton 11 2,573

Note: Comparable information for La Palma, Mission Viejo and Villa Park not available.

Liquor Stores in County 1982: 446 1983: 445 1984: 454 1985: 458 1986: 461 1987: 479 *1988: 460 *second quarter, 1988