Lee\u2019s Discount Liquor has been acquired by a Texas-based liquor company.<\/p>\n
Spec\u2019s Family Corp., parent company of Spec\u2019s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods, in June acquired Lee\u2019s Discount <\/a>Liquor<\/a>. Founded in 1962, Spec\u2019s is a fourth generation, family-owned business with over 220 locations in Texas. The acquisition of Lee\u2019s is the company\u2019s first entrance into the Nevada market.<\/p>\n Going forward, Lee\u2019s will keep its name, partnerships and continue to operate independently in Nevada, according to Spec\u2019s. Former Lee\u2019s CEO Nami Lee will stay on in an advisory position for five years.<\/p>\n The financial terms of the deal weren\u2019t disclosed.<\/p>\n \u201dMy main focus was to recognize and honor everyone who helped build Lee\u2019s Discount Liquor over the past 45 years,\u201d Nami Lee said in a statement. \u201cThis business was built by many people \u2014 our employees, vendors, business partners, customers and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she wanted to \u201creflect my sincere appreciation for all of their support, dedication, and contributions to our family\u2019s journey.\u201d<\/p>\n Founded in 1981 in Las Vegas, Lee\u2019s Discount Liquor was Nevada\u2019s largest independent liquor chain. The chain operates 23 locations across the state, with most locations in the Las Vegas Valley.<\/p>\n John Rydman, CEO of Spec\u2019s Family Corp. and now Lee\u2019s, says the families have been friends since the early 1980s.<\/p>\n After the deaths of Lee\u2019s founder Hae Un Lee and his son Kenny Lee, he said the family was \u201cinterested in trying to sell,\u201d although \u201cserious talks\u201d didn\u2019t start until February.<\/p>\n Hae Un Lee<\/a> died in 2021, and his son Kenny Lee <\/a>was killed in a car crash the same year. Kenny Lee\u2019s wife, Nami Lee, took over as CEO following the deaths.<\/p>\n \u201cWe actually had talked before Mr. (Hae Un) Lee passed that, you know, someday maybe we\u2019ll do something together, but that day never came,\u201d said Rydman.<\/p>\n Rydman said there will be \u201cminor tweaks\u201d in the company, but ultimately hopes to \u201cmake Lee\u2019s even healthier than it is today.\u201d Additionally, he hopes to bring new things to stores such as cigars.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a huge strategic decision to go searching it out,\u201d said Rydman of the acquisition. \u201cThey kind of called on us, and we were ready.\u201d<\/p>\n In the end, Spec\u2019s hopes to \u201ckeep the legacy of Lee\u2019s going\u201d in Nevada.<\/p>\n Hae Un Lee immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea and opened his first liquor store, Plaza Liquor, in 1981 on Spring Mountain Road. His first store was later renamed A Plaza Liquor, so that it would be the first result in a phone book. Hae Un Lee then changed the name to \u201cA Plaza Liquor Barn\u201d until a California business with a similar name threatened to sue. Instead, he came up with the signature Lee\u2019s Discount Liquor name.<\/p>\n \u201cHere in the United States, people like discounts, Discount Tires, etc.,\u201d Hae Un Lee said in 2016.<\/p>\n Lee\u2019s Helping Hand Foundation was founded in the early 2000s to support organizations such as Opportunity Village, New Vista Ranch and Spread the Word Nevada.<\/p>\n Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lee\u2019s Discount Liquor has been acquired by a Texas-based liquor company. Spec\u2019s Family Corp., parent company of Spec\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-401059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}