# Massachusetts Question 1 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 26, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massachusetts-question-1/377978 "2006-10-26T14:35:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massachusetts-question-1/377978/21 "2006-10-26T23:35:52Z")
I’m originally from Maine. People in Maine go to Shaws, buy their goceries and beverages, including but not limited to beer and wine, like normal humans, and so far the place hasn’t imploded. I don’t think there are many more drunken teen orgies in the Pine Tree State than most jurisdictions. Not that I was invited to, anyway. The arguments against 1 are so weak, so pathetic on the face of them it boggles my mind there is a debate to be had. The rest of the freakin’ _world_ can buy a bottle of wine at the grocery store. It saves time, it saves gas, and it would help us not look like a pack of idiots who haven’t figured out that Myles Standish isn’t the Captain any more. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massachusetts-question-1/377978/22 "2006-10-27T00:29:23Z")
Personally I’m glad that my humble home state of Tennessee keeps the wine store sseparate from the grocery stores. When I go to a wine store, the guy behind the counter actually knows wine and can actually help me select a good brand and vintage for a particular occasion and price range. If the wine stores were shut down and the grocery stores took over, then the grocery store employees would probably be as clueless about wine as they are about everything else, and I’d have no access to any true wine expertise. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massachusetts-question-1/377978/23 "2006-10-27T00:35:17Z")
I really don’t think this is an either-or kind of thing. Liquor stores will still be around. It’s just wine, fergawdsakes; you still have to go to the packie to get your Jägermeister shots, so the wine rack will always be there for you. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massachusetts-question-1/377978/24 "2006-10-27T16:24:38Z")
[QUOTE=Loopydude] The arguments against 1 are so weak, so pathetic on the face of them it boggles my mind there is a debate to be had. [/QUOTE] I basically agree with you, but at the same time, I do feel at least a little bit bad about small mom-and-pop liquor store operations that probably paid a young fortune for their liquor license, and who will shortly see the value of that investment cut in half. Some of them will undoubtedly go under, really through no fault of their own. I would be receptive to a limited relief program for those people. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massachusetts-question-1/377978/25 "2006-10-27T16:49:35Z")
I’d like to see the balance sheets of a few representative liquor stores. I’d wager that very little of their profits come from wine sales. As well, they’d still have the patronage of people seeking knowledgeable sommeliers. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massachusetts-question-1/377978/26 "2006-10-27T22:29:23Z")
[QUOTE=Telemark] Heck, I live in a dry town anyways, I’ll still have to travel to get anything. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Not necessarily. State law overcomes municipal law. It was explained to me by our town’s attorney that the new state law, if enacted, will override local ordinances that prohibit the selling of beer and wine in retail establishments. In other words, if the state-wide law gets passed, the town fathers and mothers of Arlington will have no choice but to allow the Stop and Shop and Little Joe’s convenience store to sell beer and wine. They may even have to allow Penzey’s to sell it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massachusetts-question-1/377978/27 "2006-10-28T16:28:20Z")
I don’t think that’s true. Local towns retain the option to license stores as they see fit, so Arlington will still be dry. There’s nothing I can see in this ballot question that mandates any town issue licenses to supermarkets if they don’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massachusetts-question-1/377978/28 "2006-10-28T16:45:20Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] I’d like to see the balance sheets of a few representative liquor stores. I’d wager that very little of their profits come from wine sales. As well, they’d still have the patronage of people seeking knowledgeable sommeliers. [/QUOTE] I agree completely. Someone who’s off to the store to stock up on Riuniti doesn’t much care about the wonderful insight a wine steward can impart. Those who do care will naturally go to a specialty wine shop. And it’s pretty clear to anyone who’s lived in MA for more than a month that the average packie is _not_ a specialty wine shop. It’s a dingy little overlit hole-in-the-wall where Joe Masshole gets his smokes, scratch tickets, and Smirnoff Ice, basically one-stop-shopping for all your favorite self-destructive vices. The idea that the packies are going to save decent MA civlilization by keeping booze behind the right sorts of doors is to laugh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massachusetts-question-1/377978.md?page=1)