It looks like there will be another round at the Pembroke ABC store — and plenty more after that.

This week the state ABC Commission voted unanimously to give the store permission to reopen. In doing so, the state ABC Commission expressed its confidence in the town’s new ABC Board, saying it believed that board could operate the store profitably.

Joshua Malcom, the chairman of the Pembroke board, didn’t want to guess when the North Vance Street store might reopen. There’s a lot of work to do, including renovations at the store and the hiring of a staff that can be trusted, and there is no reason to put a self-imposed deadline on getting that work done.

That said, we hope that the Pembroke board moves swiftly. Pembroke residents and those who live nearby have for more than a year been forced to drive to ABC stores in Red Springs, Maxton and Lumberton to purchase their bottled alcohol. The inconvenience is bad enough, but their doing so also shifts revenue to other town governments to help with their bills.

The whole episode has been unnecessary.

The previous board for years did not provide adequate oversight, turning its eye as the store routinely operated in the red. Following an audit last year that identified systemic problems throughout the store, Michael Herring, chief administrator for the state ABC Commission, pulled no punches, closing the store and basically saying that any chance at profitability was going “out the back door.”

The implication was clear: Employees could not be trusted, and there was no security system in place that would deter theft.

The solution was always as easy as A-B-C, but the Town Council reacted angrily when Herring laid down the law, essentially telling him and the state ABC Commission to mind their own business. Well, the operation of the Pembroke store is the state ABC Commission’s business, and the Pembroke council slowly got the message, recognized the fight it had picked could not be won, and then put together a competent ABC Board that has done the work in the interim.

Soon enough, but way past time, Pembroke residents will have a renovated ABC Store that is better designed for customers, employees who are under the watchful eye of security cameras, and an additional revenue stream for the town government.