RICHMOND—Local ABC stores have posted modest gains in both total sales and the amount of alcoholic beverages sold.

According to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the Franklin ABC store, located at 1100 Armory Drive in the Franklin Plaza Shopping Center, sold 28,683 gallons of alcoholic beverages during the 2009 fiscal year, an increase of almost one percent from 2008 when 28,547 gallons were sold.

ABC stores in Courtland and Windsor also sold about one percent more liquor.

The Courtland franchise at 22718 Main Street, located in the Shands Shopping Center, sold 7,630 gallons in 2009, up from the 7,461 gallons sold in 2008. At the Windsor store, 11409 Windsor Blvd., 10,150 gallons were sold in 2009. The store sold 9,638 gallons in 2008.

The data shows that only nine of the approximately 330 ABC stores in Virginia sold fewer gallons of liquor than the store in Courtland.

The state control board also reported increased gross sales of just under one percent for all three stores.

Using figures that included state taxes but not a five percent sales tax, the board said the Franklin ABC store had gross sales totaling $1,745,913 in 2009. Meanwhile, the store in Courtland posted $425,449 in sales, while the Windsor store tallied $606,008.

In 2008, the ABC stores in Franklin, Courtland and Windsor respectively had sales of $1,736,665, $409,190 and $560,022.

A news report by WTKR-TV in Hampton Roads on Tuesday suggested that since the city of Franklin has a population of about 8,000 people, per capita sales would be the seventh highest in the state. By that logic, the TV station asserted in its report that every person of legal drinking age in the city spent $263 worth of alcoholic beverages in 2009.

Franklin Mayor Jim Councill said he thought that figure was fuzzy math.

“It paints a picture that I think is highly distorted, from the standpoint that I don’t think the population of the City of Franklin is what’s keeping those sales up,” Councill said Thursday. “I would think it would be from the larger service area.

“We have a busy store in a small town that serves a large area. It’s located on the highway to Boykins and it’s on the way to North Carolina. My suspicion is that a tremendous amount of purchasing is from the surrounding and out-of-town areas.”