Nick Drazenovic knows his move to set up a liquor store on Queensway has touched a nerve and hundreds of residents in the Millar Addition neighbourhood near Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park are dead-set against it.
The application to rezone the property to allow a liquor store required four public hearings and led to some heated discussions from angry people who petitioned against it before city council unanimously approved it on April 12.
If all goes according to plan and his store at 1933 Queensway passes inspection, Queensway Liquor Store Cold Beer, Wine & Sprits will open for business within the next two weeks.
Having grown up in that neighbourhood before he went on to become a professional hockey player in the NHL, the 35-year-old Drazenovic cares about what people think about his business plan and he plans to do something to try to alleviate concerns a liquor store will lead to social problems and attract undesirable visitors to the area who will resort to crime to pay for their liquor purchases.
The store will be open seven days per week from 9 a.m. – 10 p.m. and will be monitored constantly by security cameras, enhanced lighting and security personnel. Hundreds of people have shown their approval having the store in that location and Drazenovic is convinced his store might actually help reduce crime by having a regular flow of customers turning off the busy city artery to make their purchases.
“I was a little surprised at the pushback but, understandably, there are residences touching the property so I can see some people being a little hesitant about it but it is a commercial area and my whole thought is to have more people coming and going and eyes and ears on the ground,” said Drazenovic.
“For me, it makes a neighbourhood safer but there was some understandable pushback and I’m hoping to hit those challenges head-on.”
Drazenovic is hiring All Nations Group to provide a security guard on duty for two hours at the end of each day and the guard will be checking on the area at least three times each shift to discourage loitering. None of the liquor products the store will sell will be priced less than $5, to limit the clientele. When it opens, the store will employ six people including Drazenovic’s wife Billie, who will handle the bookkeeping for the store.
The store was formerly occupied by a florist’s shop and once housed a Pizza Hut restaurant. Drazenovic drove by the unoccupied building many times before the made an offer to buy it.
“I had an idea of this neighbourhood, I grew up on 20th Avenue, my grandparents lived there, so I actually spent a lot of time there at this Pizza Hut,” he said. “ On my way to the gym I pass this building every day and I just thought Queensway needed a liquor store, it would help the area.
“There’s been a revitalization of the Lheidli T’enneh Park area and people are pouring money into the older mature neighbourhood and I feel like something could happen in this area that turns the look of Prince George around. We’re tried to try to make it as nice as possible and we’ve gone over and beyond what we needed to do and we’ll try to make it look really real nice and feel welcoming for the general public.”
On March 2, 2020, Drazenovic took over an existing business in Quesnel (Hilltop Liquor Store) to open his first store and that turned into a thriving business during the pandemic.
“It was nerve-wracking, it was very uncertain times and we had just made the biggest purchase of our lives,” said Drazenovic. “Then COVID started happening and businesses were forced to be shut and we didn’t know our future but we were deemed an essential service and our hours actually got extended to negate some of the crowds and the spread of COVID. In Quesnel we didn’t really have any pushback about anything and followed the mandates. The sales went up and all is well.”
He decided to pursue opening the Queensway store when he purchased an existing liquor licence from a friend, Denver McCullough, who operated the Alpine Cold Beer and Liquor Store at Hart Shopping Mall. As condition of the sale, Drazenovic agreed to close the Alpine store location in the Hart to avoid competition with McCullough’s existing businesses.
Drazenovic was drafted by his hometown Prince George Cougars 11th overall in 2002 and went on to play four seasons as a WHL centre with the Cats from 2002-07. He was a sixth-round choice of the St. Louis Blues in 2006 and went on to play for the Blues, Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins in a nine-year pro career. He returned to Prince George to open Northern Elite Hockey, a skill development school. He was the Cougars’ director of player development from 2016-19 and is heading into his fourth season as an assistant coach with the BCHL Spruce Kings.
