No liquor in Thompson’s Station? That’s changing. How it happened, what’s next.

The more than a 150-year-old town of Thompson’s Station, with a population of about 8,000 people, doesn’t have a liquor store. Among the fast-growing Williamson County municipalities, it was an anomaly. 

That all changed on Nov. 8 when voters overwhelmingly chose to allow a liquor store in the town with nearly 80 percent of the vote. 

The process started when Steve Poe, owner of a Franklin liquor store and a real estate agent, saw an opportunity at the Tollgate Village subdivision in Thompson’s Station. 

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He secured a lease for a property, ready to start stocking shelves. 

One problem: The city wasn’t authorized to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption off-premise.

Poe needed to collect enough signatures from residents who approved of a liquor store to put a referendum on the November ballot. 

Poe said he contacted the homeowners association leaders in the Bridgemore, Tollgate, and Canterbury neighborhoods and was given permission to set up a table at the neighborhood pools, seeking signatures. 

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“We had to get 10 percent of registered voters of Thompson's Station that voted in the last election which was roughly 2,900, so easy math gave us roughly 290 signatures needed to collect,” Poe said. “I got the HOA approvals and met a lot of fantastic people in the process.”

After submitting the signatures to the Williamson County Election Commission, Poe began a campaigning process. 

“The rest is history,” he said. 

Poe, who owns Westside Wine and Spirits in the Westhaven subdivision, said the next steps are licensing and construction with a target open date of fall next year for the Thompson’s Station store. The name will be Tollgate Wine and Spirits.  

“We will be working with Thompsons Station leadership through this process,” Poe said.