# Does Sesame Street have a liquor store? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** liquor-alcohol\ **Created:** [May 19, 2024, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764 "2024-05-19T06:18:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/21 "2024-05-19T13:51:59Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > This is a street that has a Fix-It Shop, so I’m going to assume a Package Store is their name for the Post Office. The Fix-It Shop was replaced by the Mail-It Shop for a few years in the 2000s. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/22 "2024-05-19T14:08:58Z")
It is a fun question, somewhere on the block is the package liquor, the smoke shop,and the back door bookie. But Big Bird is none the wiser. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/23 "2024-05-19T14:16:01Z")
> [@chela](#): > > It is a fun question, somewhere on the block is the package liquor, the smoke shop,and the back door bookie. **But Big Bird is none the wiser.** - Oooh…good cover. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/24 "2024-05-19T14:22:42Z")
Live and learn - I had no idea “package store” was a regionalism. I mostly grew up in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and thought that was just the euphemism everybody knew. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/25 "2024-05-19T14:42:51Z")
June Carter released the album _Press On_ in1999. Her later albums were released after her death. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/26 "2024-05-19T15:32:57Z")
I mostly wanted to know if Mr. Rogers could see Snufflufagus, who seems to have a bit of a smoker’s cough. Fred Rogers has Bombadil-esque powers (you see any Barrow-wights or Trolls in the land of Make-believe?) And what a bastard Big Bird is for not only racing a plodding woolly-mammothy creature but also a hot day more fit for Mr. Whipple to crank up the A/C. I believe Snuffy can be seen now yet I only liked (as it turned out) the Jim Henson and Frank Oz characters (Bert & Ernie, etc…) “Package Store” was what the Australian’s called liquor stores (I believe the only place to get beer too). In the UK & Ireland it’s anyplace that is “open license” though you can get both liquor and beer in supermarkets too. I still call the front of a car the hood and the back the trunk, yet the other day I told my wife I was going to the Chemist (what Australians call the Pharmacy) and I’m originally from New York. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/27 "2024-05-19T15:33:07Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Mr Rogers Neighborhood is in Latrobe PA Doesn’t it bother anyone that that’s the home of Rolling Rock beer? It explains so much. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/28 "2024-05-19T16:14:17Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > it’s anyplace that is “open license” Off-licence, right? ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/29 "2024-05-19T16:35:53Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Off-licence, right? Yes, My mistake. Thanks for the correction, ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/30 "2024-05-19T16:42:59Z")
It’s a damn shame that New York isn’t an ABC Store state. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/31 "2024-05-19T16:49:04Z")
But then how will you know when to drink your Ovaltine? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/32 "2024-05-19T17:03:37Z")
> [@chela](#): > > …and the back door bookie. Well, there IS that door right behind Big Bird’s nest, that we never seem to see opened… ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/33 "2024-05-19T17:05:56Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Maybe that’s how the license is commonly referred to by those in the industry, or maybe that’s what the stores are commonly called in some other parts of NY, but “package store” is definitely not used in NYC and hasn’t been as far back as the 70s. Possibly both? If it’s more common in for example Albany, and more salient for people dealing with the state government, that might be the only place it shows up today. That said, this boilerplate disclaimer appears in thousands of ads archived on [newspaper.com](http://newspaper.com) specifically within NYC, alone, in the 1980s, alone: > CONSUMER NOTE: BY LAW, ANY PACKAGE STORE IS ENTITLED TO BUY ANY ITEM OF LIQUOR AT THE SAME PRICE AS THE STORES LISTED IN THIS AD, EACH OF WHICH IS INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED, NOT A CHAIN OR COOPERATIVE GROUP Contemporary papers use the phrase without defining it, so even if it was an archaic or idiosyncratic term, the _New York Times_ doesn’t seem to expect that their readers would have been confused. But also, I can’t find a single instance of “package store” being used to mean anything _else_. Which is not to say it’s not out there, but it’s not any _more_ common than New Yorkers using it to mean “liquor store.” A 1983 _New York Magazine_ review of a Georgia luxury hotel says: > All that’s needed is nearby: package store, pro shops, post office, sportswear shops, charter boats—even for-hire automobiles. for example, which would seem to imply a clear distinction between “package store (for alcoholic beverage)” and “place you mail things.” So if nothing else, in response to the OP’s question, I don’t think there’s any other plausible explanation for what Big Bird was saying besides a liquor store. Which, as noted, would not be an unexpected or unusual thing to see in a neighborhood anyway. The real question is, given the laws at the time around liquor store locations (and their density), does that tell us anything new about where Sesame Street is actually located? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/34 "2024-05-19T21:52:22Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > I believe Snuffy can be seen now That’s correct. The creators of Sesame Street recognized the value in having grown ups “see” something that is very important to a kid. Thus, they came to see Bird’s best friend, Snuffy. And thereby tried to reassure kids that if they had some secret to share (like being molested) the adults in their life would listen. > [@Snuffleupagus was finally made visible on Sesame Street because of children being sexually abused](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snuffleupagus-was-finally-made-visible-on-sesame-street-because-of-children-being-sexually-abused/550848): > > [Odd fact, but true!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Snuffleupagus) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/35 "2024-05-20T12:26:06Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Live and learn - I had no idea “package store” was a regionalism. I mostly grew up in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and thought that was just the euphemism everybody knew. Likewise, here in the greater metro Detroit area we refer to stores that sell beer, wine and liquor as well as other sundries “party stores”, and I was an adult before I learned that term was not universal; that if you mentioned “party store” to anyone not from the area they’d think you meant a store that sells colored crepe paper and birthday hats. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/36 "2024-05-20T13:56:16Z")
Is it possible he’s not saying “package store” but some other kind of store that _sounds like_ “package”? Although I’ve watched the snippet two times and it sure sounds like “package” to me. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/37 "2024-05-20T15:23:44Z")
> [@solost](#): > > that if you mentioned “party store” to anyone not from the area they’d think you meant a store that sells colored crepe paper and birthday hats. Indeed! When I lived in Australia it didn’t take too long to understand a package store meant a place for liquor and beer (In New York there’s a law that you can’t walk out of a liquor store or deli holding a bottle or a six-pack not bagged). I would need to be told really slowly that party store was liquor & beer. Australia was the first non-American country I lived in. One day we were asking where we could use our bank cards to get money. “The Ahnzed”. Where is that? Fortunately we were on a high enough floor they could point across at another tall building with big letters ANZ. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/38 "2024-05-20T15:43:01Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > In New York there’s a law I was rethinking this and it may not have been a law yet it was certainly standard practice that the cashier would bag a bottle or two. I reckon it would be impractical - in every city and every nation - to package up a case of Chivas Regal and certainly counter-productive to bag up a “suitcase” of Budweiser. ETA: I’ll withdraw the 'every nation" bit too as when I lived in St. Petersburg, Russsia as soon as you paid for the bottle you could open it and walk out of the store without a bag. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/39 "2024-05-20T15:48:24Z")
It actually wouldn’t surprise me if Spinney was ad-libbing and he did mean “liquor store.” Sesame Street takes place in the city and is not trying to hide the mundane realities of urban life from kids. The existence of a liquor store isn’t necessary seedy, it’s just a part of life. Also possible that Spinney said it off the cuff, nobody knew he meant “liquor store”, and it just stayed in. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764/40 "2024-05-20T15:56:29Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The existence of a liquor store isn’t necessary seedy, it’s just a part of life. But also likely not located in the best part of town. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-sesame-street-have-a-liquor-store/1001764.md?page=3)