Forgive me if I asked this question before. I’m not sure I didn’t, but when I searched for it, I couldn’t find it.
What happened to separate liquor cashiers in grocery stores?
It used to be you could go into a store to buy a few things,
and as long as they were prepackaged and price-stamped, you could pay for them at the liquor counter, where you usually didn’t have to wait. As far as I can remember, you didn’t
even have to include liquor in your order.
Then about 15 years ago all the liquor counters disappeared, at least in SoCal. What happened?
Well, this obviously has nothing to do with SoCal, but here in Virginia, Land of the Antiquated Blue Laws, we have an ABC board…Alcoholic Beverage Control. You can buy wine and beer in grocery stores (well, in most of them, anyhow), but for actual LIQUOR you have to go to an ABC store. Most of them are only open until 6pm, although some are open up until 9pm. They are all closed on Sundays. The “liquor counter” isn’t even an ISSUE here.
Which sucks if you suddenly get a yen for butterscotch schnapps at 3pm on a Sunday. Heh.
In PA you cannot buy any alcohol (except cooking wine which is salted so it’s undrinkable) at the grocery store. Wine and liqour are purchased at state controlled stores. Six packs only from six-pack shops (and they limit the number you can buy) and cases only from distributors who have pretty limited hours. When I moved to VA I was thrilled.
By “liquor” I meant any alcoholic beverage from beer on up.
Sorry, VA and PA, to hear that your states are so restrictive. At least in PA it sounds like the state took over the alcohol business from the bootleggers but keeps it
the same in many respects, in that you have to go a little out of your way to get some.
<sigh> Just one more reason the western states (except California) should secede from the union. In Arizona you can buy your damn beer, booze and wine from any grocery store, convenience mart or liquor store until 1 AM when bars stop serving. That, reasonable firearms laws and being able to make a right turn on a red light are why I love the west. Fresh air used to be on the list but you can’t get that in Phoenix anymore :mad:
Well I’m from Minnesota, and when I was growing up you couldn’t buy liquor at the grocery store - period. You had to go to the Liquor store (I don’t think it was a state-regulated thing) because they had the special license. The only other place you could buy liquor was the convenience store…except it was only 3/2 beer (which I don’t think they make anymore).
Same in Texas. Some exceptions are the dry cities, where you have to purchase a membership to the store in order to buy the alcohol. There’s always a loophole somewhere.
I grew up in PA. I think they’ve loosened up a bit since then, actually. What is a “six pack shop”? When I lived there, you had two choices for beer:
1 - go to a bar, and pay bar prices for a six pack.
2 - go to a beverage distributor, open only during business hours, and which sells only kegs and cases.
Basically, it made people buy cases. The “beverage distributor” was often a drive-through operation. You pulled into a garage with an open door at each end, told them what you wanted, and they’d toss it in the trunk for you and take your money.
The state stores weren’t self-serve then. It was wierd. You went into a store that had shelves with one bottle of each available thing out on display. You decided what you wanted, then told the state employee behind the counter who got it from the back room.
Liquor stores in PA did not have sales or anything, by definition. The state fixed the prices. Consequently, a lot of people went over to adjacent states to buy booze. Not to mention NY having an 18 year old drinking age, while PA’s was 21. That led to LOTS of bars just over the border, and a lot of 18-21 year old drunk drivers coming back into PA.
Actually, since I worked in a grocery store and now work at KrapMart, I am GLAD PA has State Stores.
I don’t have to deal with drunks demanding I sell them booze.
I went to grad school in PA, and those laws baffled me when I first arrived. First I tried to buy beer with my groceries and was told I couldn’t do that. So I went to the liquor store next door. I looked around and saw no beer, so I asked and was told I had to go to a beer distributer. Being from the midwest, a beer distributor to me means the company that sells the beer to the grocery and liquor stores. I then noticed that there was a beer store in the same strip mall so I went in there and tried to buy a six pack. I got looked at strangely for the third time in 15 minutes and was told I could only buy a case. The thing I liked though was that there was a beer distributor close to where I lived that was open 24 hours a day. As far as I could tell the PA laws were designed to night long.
I live in Missouri now and we still have liquor counters in the grocery stores. Also we can turn right on red and if two one way streets intersect you can turn left on red assuming it is the correct direction.
NY is pretty good as far as alcohol. You can buy beer or drink at the bars until 2 AM (here at Plattsburgh State we’ve had many, many 1:58 beer runs). Liquor stores are open until 9 or 10, and you can get a keg at a convenience store. Fabulous.
Is that upstate NY only? Down here on Long Island (and NYC too), bars serve alcohol till 4:00AM (and, in case you’re wondering, yes, you do lose an hour of drinking time when going to Daylight time, and apparently you gain an hour back when going to Standard time)
The liquor counters went away about the same time at the “scanners” took over. When the store had to put in new checkout counters, they just eliminated the liquor counters and put in “express” lines.
The time for last call in New York bars depends on the municipality. For example, NYC shuts down at 4 a.m., but neighboring Yonkers closes at 2 a.m. (leading to a mass migration across city lines at that time).
New York State convenience stores will only sell beer and wine coolers (but not before noon on Sunday). New Jersey doesn’t seem to have those restrictions - the ShopRite in Bergen County near my office has one of those separate liquor shop areas at the front of the store. Many of the grocery stores I’ve seen in New Jersey don’t have their own liquor store, though.
My guess is that wherever you have plentiful and/or large liquor stores, convenience stores don’t really have the economic incentive to stock anything other than the basics. After all, if you’re shopping for weekly groceries, Chivas Regal isn’t usually on the list.
I noticed that in Toronto, alcohol sales work the same way (surprising, since I thought Canada was a very beer-oriented culture ;)). You have to buy your beer from a government-owned “Beer Store” (that’s what its called!), and they have the one-bottle-on-the-rack deal. On the other hand, they had a pretty big selection. Oh well. Any Canadians care to back this up or deny it?
Well, I’m not Canadian; but I was in Victoria, B.C. last June. A few of us decided we wanted a little party at the B&B, so we went to a beer store. Came out with a few cases, which we picked up ourselves in a pleasantly chilled room.
Last year while camping at Lake Okanagan, we went to a gas station mini-mart and got some LaBatt’s something-or-other. 1/2 percent alcohol! Woohoo! (That was all they had.)
Liquor laws in Canada vary from one province to another, so YMMV.
In B.C. these days, hard liquor is sold by government-run liquor stores that are open until late in the evening every day but Sunday (except for ones at “tourist destinations”, which are open all week). There are also “cold beer and wine” stores with similar hours. Pubs can sell beer to take out.
I also remember from years ago having to fill out a little form (and sign it!) to get liquor from Saskatchewan Liquor Control Board stores.
There are still hotel “beverage rooms” in both provinces left over from the post-Prohibition years (we did that here too, but not for long!) that have separate entrances for “Gentlemen” and “Ladies and Escorts”. They used to have a railing down the centre of the room to separate the two groups. No unaccompanied women allowed! We know what they’re looking for!
Unfortunately, they still make 3.2 beer Gross, ain’t it?
Bars have a choice of being a full-fledged bar or a 3.2 joint.
Many of the large grocery stores here now have an attached liquor store - after buying all your groceries and hauling them to you car you can go back to a separate entrance in the same building and buy your wine.
I’m sure other dopers will correct me if I’m wrong, but Maine is the only state I’ve seen that has a liquor section in the grocery store - you can put brandy in your cart right next to the bread and pay for it all at the same time with the same check.
I’ve mentioned it before on the boards but I found this law so odd it bears repeating: In Dade County FL you can buy beer and hard liquor on Sundays but not wine - this was a backlash against all the bluenoses who wanted to ban alcohol sales on Sundays. The city fathers decided to prevent them from having wine with Sunday dinner.
In Arizona you can buy your damn beer, booze and wine from any grocery store, convenience mart or liquor store until 1 AM when bars stop serving. That, reasonable firearms laws and being able to make a right turn on a red light are why I love the west. Fresh air used to be on the list but you can’t get that in Phoenix anymore :mad:
Gross, ain’t it?