Business phone system for beer, wine and liquor stores in Montana

Beer, wine and liquor stores in Montana by the numbers

County Business Patterns counts 82 establishments in Montana classified as Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores (NAICS 445310) for 2023. They employed 482 people in mid-March and reported $16.1 million in annual payroll. That is the 44th highest count among the 51 states and DC with published figures. Beer, wine and liquor stores make up 0.19% of the 42,566 business establishments in the state.

Per 100,000 residents (2024 estimate) Montana has 7.2 beer, wine and liquor stores, 32.7% below the national rate of 10.7. The average establishment has 5.9 employees against 5.3 nationally. Payroll per employee is $33,317, 18.4% above the U.S. figure of $28,143.

Beer, wine and liquor stores by metro area in Montana

Census published liquor store counts for 6 metro or micropolitan areas that include part of Montana. The largest is Billings, MT, with 13 establishments. Single-state metro and micropolitan areas account for 56% of the statewide total; the rest are outside any published area or in areas Census suppressed.

Team sizes at beer, wine and liquor stores in Montana

48.8% of Montana's beer, wine and liquor stores with employees had fewer than five people in March 2023, compared with 61.7% nationally. 84.1% had fewer than ten. That is the size of team where a missed call usually means nobody was free, not that nobody was on staff.

Why the phone matters for beer, wine and liquor stores in Montana

Liquor stores field calls about stock, special orders and event quantities. Calls from event planners and restaurants are often time-sensitive. That holds for beer, wine and liquor stores in Montana as much as anywhere.

A few of the calls that come in to beer, wine and liquor stores in Montana:

• The store calls a customer when an order arrives.
• A customer calls about hours.
• An event planner calls about a large order.

After-hours calls

After-hours calls are mostly stock and hours questions.

Callata voicemail is transcribed and triaged for urgency, and business-hours routing decides where calls go once you close.

What a phone system costs a liquor store in Montana

Beer, wine and liquor stores in Montana average 5.9 employees, so the comparison uses a 6-person team. On a per-user plan that headcount sets the bill: $149.70 a month on Ooma Office Pro or $180.00 on RingCentral RingEX Core at list price (checked September 28, 2026). On Callata the same 6 people cost $119.00 a month, less than either per-seat plan.

The annual difference against RingCentral's monthly list price comes to $732. Some vendors discount annual contracts; the table shows month-to-month prices.

Area codes in Montana

Montana has 1 geographic area code in service according to NANPA. You can choose local numbers in the area codes your customers know, subject to carrier inventory, or port your current number for free.

How Callata works for beer, wine and liquor stores in Montana

Callata is a business phone system priced at $99 a month with 5 users included, then $20 per additional user. Callata Office includes up to 3 local business numbers, unlimited inbound calling, 1,500 pooled outbound US and Canada minutes per user each month, a browser softphone that can also ring your cell, voicemail with transcription, call recording with AI summaries, business-hours routing and E911 on every number.

If you already have a number in Montana, porting it to Callata is free. Texting from a local number requires a one-time carrier registration (10DLC, $49), and the numbers available in any area code depend on carrier inventory when you choose them.

Optional AI agents (receptionist, sales, support or scheduler) can answer calls after hours or when nobody picks up, take messages, text, email and transfer to your team. They are billed from prepaid AI minutes at $0.25 per minute, identify themselves as AI, and may only place outbound calls to people who consented, between 8am and 9pm.