Featured Business
Cedar Mill Liquor
by Virginia Bruce

One of Cedar Mill’s longest-running businesses has just moved to a new location. Randy Guerra, who took over Cedar Mill Liquor seven years ago, leased space last spring across Cornell in Cedar Mill Place that had formerly been occupied by Paulson’s Floor Covering. Contractors have been fixing up the new store and he and his team opened for business on October 26.

“Our goal in this expansion is to make a place that’s comfortable and pleasant both for our customers and our employees,” says Guerra. “Now we can give you a fabulous selection of liquor, premium cigars, bar accessories and a full line of mixers.” Guerra thinks they may have the biggest “vodka wall” in the state. He considers this a “once-in-a-lifetime” investment and he wanted to create an exceptional store.

The new space is almost three times as big as the previous store. “We have been keeping a list over the years of all the things that bothered us about the old location, and we’ve tried to correct them all in this store,” Guerra says. They replaced or upgraded nearly everything in the space, including electrical, plumbing and ADA accessibility. “We hired Studio four 21, a professional retail designer. They worked from the colors in our logo to make a friendly, warm and inviting store that conveys our brand identity.”

They’ve enjoyed working with their new landlord, a local individual who has been very easy to contact. Other mall tenants have also been favorable to the move. There’s always plenty of parking and they bring new visibility to the other nearby businesses.

Cedar Mill Liquor originally opened in the area in 1959. Guerra took over the business from Robert Bonnes, who retired seven years ago. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) determines who can own be an agent, so when Guerra wanted to purchase the store, he had to make an application to them.

His parents owned a bar, The Paragon Club, in north Portland for years, so he understood the business and the intricacies of working with the OLCC. Prior to becoming the agent, he had worked in several small service companies, and as a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines, so he really knows how to take care of customers.

A wide selection of bar tools and accessories is one of the new features of the store

He is also the agent for the liquor store at the QFC market in the Bethany Village Shopping Center. This was an experiment on the part of OLCC to have a liquor outlet inside a grocery store. It was opened by QFC in 2004, and Guerra took it over in 2006. The OLCC only allows two stores per agent, so Guerra doesn’t expect to expand, just to continue to make his businesses better.

Once all the construction work was completed on the new store, the new shelving was installed and 15-20 liquor company reps showed up to help place products on the shelves, along with the six full-time employees. Guerra says, “I didn’t ask them to work overtime on their day off, they just wanted to help. We were in here until midnight on Saturday getting things ready for our Monday opening. We’re all very excited about this! We have a great team. There’s almost no turnover, and one of my employees has been with me since the first day.”

A customer gets expert advice from employee Jeff about the best mixer to go with her purchase from the extensive selection at the store.

Guerra loves to work “out front” but he often finds himself doing the necessary administration tasks like ordering and accounting. He sometimes spends part of his workday at home with his sRandy Guerra at the tasting baron, eleven-month-old Jameson. His wife Lisa is a physician, and they share their home with Emma, a chocolate lab. Guerra used to live in Cedar Mill but moved to a nearby area after getting married.

Working with the OLCC is not a problem for him. “It’s actually pretty easy as long as you are familiar with all the rules,” he says. “There’s no pressure to ‘produce’ or increase sales. You’re just expected to serve the community in a responsible way. As long as you have all your paperwork in on time, it’s not a problem. They are actually a great support system.” The OLCC, which has its headquarters in Portland, offers continued training and education for employees.

“We take our responsibility very seriously,” says Guerra, “and we are very conservative in how we operate.” They occasionally get someone trying to pass off a fake ID, but generally it’s just someone who forgot to renew their license. They also can’t sell to anyone who’s visibly intoxicated, or whose license is in any way altered or mutilated.

One thing few people realize is that the OLCC actually owns all the liquor products that are sold in Oregon. They set the prices, so a store can only differentiate itself through customer service, selection, and environment.

Randy Guerra at the tasting bar

Adding new products to the approved list has gotten easier in the last decade or so. When a customer requests a product that they don’t carry, they can special-order something, and if it proves popular, it gets added as a “limited listing” to see if it will sell. A panel of OLCC employees, agents and product reps convenes a few times a year to evaluate new products and update the list. Guerra mentions that distilleries have been adding lots of new flavors recently, and that was one of the reasons they knew they should expand.

A new feature of the store will be tastings. They have installed a tasting bar, and distillers and reps will come in on weekends to give customers samples of liquor and mixer items. “We’ll probably be doing hot buttered rum and other holiday specialties soon,” says Guerra.

The OLCC has marketing guidelines that limit the amount of advertising they can do, so they probably won’t be sending out promotional emails. “We can let people know we’re here, but we’re not allowed to ‘push’ liquor sales. The philosophy is that we are providing a legal product, but that we’re not encouraging people to use it.”

Randy Guerra’s guitar collection includes autographed instruments from the lead guitarist of Kiss and Sammy Hagar.

In addition to retail sales, all the liquor in bars and restaurants in Oregon is sold through agents like Cedar Mill Liquor. About 20-25% of their business comes from supplying most of the local establishments who sell liquor.

The Cedar Mill Liquor store is open seven days a week: Monday-Thursday 11 am – 8 pm; Friday and Saturday 11-9, and Sunday 11-5. They are located at 13528 NW Cornell and their phone number is 503-626-2611. Visit them on the web at cedarmillliquor.com

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