A state-run liquor store on Barkley Boulevard in Bellingham is one of 18 stores statewide whose licensing rights that will be put up for auction a second time by the Washington State Liquor Control Board.

After the initial online auction for liquor store rights ended April 20, winning bidders for the 18 stores failed to pay their bids.

Ronnie Biral of SeaTac, Wash., was the top bidder in April for the store at 1255 Barkley Blvd., Suite 107 in Bellingham. Biral’s bid was $305,100.

The liquor board was directed by Initiative 1183, the measure to privatize Washington liquor sales which goes into effect in June, to auction store properties. However, since the state leases the properties rather than owning them, officials auctioned off exclusive rights to apply for a liquor license within a store’s footprint.

The state has already earned $25.9 million in bid fees from successful bidders representing 149 stores.

“This has been a highly successful auction process,” Pat McLaughlin, the liquor board’s business enterprise director, said in a May 16 press release. “We have already collected nearly $26 million in bids plus about one million more in fees.”

The May 24 auction will begin at 10 a.m., with registration opening at 9 a.m.

It will be held at the liquor board’s distribution center, 4401 East Marginal Way in Seattle.

Additional details on the live public auction and comprehensive data on each of the18 stores  available is on the liquor board’s website at www.liq.wa.gov.

State stores to be auctioned May 24