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sales prices were limited to a duration of 1 week. In the
December advertisements, the sales ended December 31, or "while
supplies last". Nick's Liquors also held "in-store" sales for
items that did not appear in the newspaper ads. In some
instances, petitioners' personnel kept items on sale beyond the
period indicated. Additionally, there were "perma sales" of
items that went on sale and retained the sale price indefinitely.
Nick's Liquors also sold merchandise that was not on sale
and produced substantially higher profit margins. For example,
in September of 1991, it sold "Old Style" beer at a price of
$9.98 per case, which represented a margin of 15.8 percent, based
upon the wholesale cost of $8.40 per case. Nick's Liquors sold
750-milliliter bottles of Riunite wine for $3.99, a margin of
26.1 percent. One-liter bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey sold at
a margin of 17 percent, and 750-milliliter bottles of Andre Pink
Champagne sold at a margin of 22.8 percent.
Petitioners' competitors in northwest Indiana had a markup
on warm beer, sold by the case, of 5 to 6 percent. The
competitors maintained a gross profit margin of 7 to 13 percent
on liquor, although the margin would be higher for slower-moving
items. The price of beer remained fairly stable during the years
in issue, and profits ranged between $.10 and $1.00 on a case for
warm beer. Although Nick's Liquors' margins on some merchandise
was as high as 26 percent, those margins were an exception to the
general rule of substantially lower margins.
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