JIM North has opened a second takeaway booze outlet in Wodonga by starting up Zippy Liquor in the bottle shop at the Carrier Arms Hotel.
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Mr North will continue to operate Premix King which opened in Southside Terrace in 2006.
Zippy Liquor opened in South Street on Monday, but the next door pub remains under renovation after briefly being run by new owner Leigh Esler before closing to carry out a major overhaul.
Mr Esler said he had no firm timeframe when the pub would re-open with another Wodonga pub, O'Maille's on High Street, shutting suddenly last month.
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Mr North has leased the bottle shop which had been shut for months with the site now free of major roadworks which impacted on former pub operators.
"We will be still in the same buying group, but it is a different name above the door," he said.
"I had noticed the bottle shop had been closed for nearly 12 months.
"It has taken six months to get off the ground.
"We've got a whole new team and can't wait to get into it.
"Compared to Premix it will be pretty mainstream, but a point of difference is we will have over 100 different types of local wine in there."
Mr North has leased the bottle shop for an undisclosed period after Mr Esler briefly considered including the area as part of the pub redevelopment before a change of plan.
The Carrier Arms bottle shop was the scene of a controversy in early 2016 when scantily dressed male and female employees Chris Allard and Kellie Arrowsmith were hired to drive up sales by former lessees Ron and Michelle Montgomery.
Among those to publicly criticise the move were Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie and White Ribbon ambassador and mayoral predecessor Mark Byatt.
O'Mailles shut in late June with former operators of three years posting on social media: "Our family have been supported during the closure by some of these friends and we could not have done it without you guys.
"We will be forever grateful and we will not forget who was there when we needed it."
The present owner is attempting to sell the pub freehold with agents CRE Brokers engaged to conduct an expressions of interest process closing on August 21.
The double storey pub is 130-year-old and includes three motel units at the rear of the property.
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