Dangers of Allowing Grocery Stores to Sell Wine

Plenty of states allow grocery stores to sell wine and beer and I'm not aware of any corelating increase in drunk driving or underage drinking. If anything, I would think it would make it easier for folks to stay home and drink.

Increased sales to minors? Not a chance. I was underage in CA, where you can buy beer and wine just about anywhere, and liquor at pretty much any grocery store. If you were underage and wanted to buy (with or without fake ID), you went to a bona fide liquor store.

And this is just to add wine to the list of sellables.



As to the drunk driving claim, I've no idea. It does seem to me, though, that encouraging people to drink at home would reduce drunken driving, and I'd guess that selling bottles at more locations might (might, mind you) decrease the number of people going out to drink.




As a side note, we've got a 9:00 curfew on liquor sales in stores in our (large college) town. The tavern league loves it, but it's a pretty obvious inducement for this alcoholic community to drink and drive. You want to drink after 9:00 and you didn't stock up? Gotta go to a bar. The tavern league loves it.

A neighbor of mine a couple of years ago died in when he and his buddy drove into a canal on a late night liquor run to a neighboring town to buy more beer after 9 pm. We lived in a neighborhood with half a dozen liquor stores within easy walking distance, but all were closed. It was still a dumbass maneuver (the driving 65 in a 25 even more than the driving drunk), but with civic policies that thought more about individuals and less about business organizations, it might not have happened.

But that's neither here nor there.

We used to have sunday closing for all package sales, and sundays open for the bars. Definately fewer drunks on the road now than before. Our grocery stores are often licensed for distilled spirits.

Wine is food. So's beer.

Spirits are not, but every grocery store should have the right to sell them if they want.

They sell plenty of wine and beer in Florida super markets. I don't see where there is a problem.

All of our chain store supermarkets sell the full range of beers, wines and spirits, seven days a week.
I don't see queues of kids outside asking adults to buy booze for them.

Our drunk driving/road accident stats are certainly not the worst in Europe, in fact I would say that we were one of the safer countries in which to drive.

I've never had a kid asking me to buy in front of a liquor store before. And when I was under age, I would always approach a young cute guy to buy - they always seemed to love buying for us young girls.

... yeah, but I always say 'no'.

I never had one say no to me.

But now that I am a responsible adult, I would say "no" too.

why is alcohol called spirits?

I think that term is silly...


Nothing is going to stop a person from driving drunk unless they live in a brewery. Period. And even then, they will think of something, sometime, that they must go get. Drunk or not.

If you are the type of person who is so selfish that drinking, then driving is NOTHING to you , then it doesnt matter what laws are in place. Drunks will drive no matter what.
We can ban all the alcohol sales in all the counties, but some one , some where will sell it. And people will drive to get it.

It isnt always on the trip to GET alcohol that the accidents happen. Most lawmakers want you to think that way so they can 'control' alcohol.
It is regular driving. Morning after a large drunk binge, bar hopping, after parties, etc.. THat is one of the peak times / situations that drunk driving accidents happen.
This is not to say that is the only time.
But early mornings, 2-4am when bars close.
12-2 when certain bars close while others are open ( bar hoppers)
According to certain public records, those are the times when the most accidents happen that involve a drunk.

I think we need to make the punishment harsher for those who drink and drive.
Instead of this " pay a fine, go to AA " bullshit, we should -
First time - Pay a HUGE fine 10,000+, have your license taken away for 7 years

Second time - 7 years in jail, 10,000 fine no returning of your license

Third time 20 years in prison. 20, 000 dollar fine

And so on..

I think alcohol is called spirits for several reasons:

You see spirits when drunk
You get spiritual when drunk
You feel in good spirits when drunk...

Speaking from the point of view that only an alcoholic can hand out here;I need to say that in my drinking days I always managed to get the booze one way or another. I was able to purchase alcohol on my own before I was of legal drinking age and for some reason was never proofed. The shock on this one is that I am a rather small person physically and tended to look younger than my age. The first thing an alcoholic learns about acquiring the liquid they so desperately crave is how to present an image. My method was to walk into a bar or liquor store and with confidence (often fortified by a few swigs of some can of beer which had been tossed half full into the trash) I would tell the storekeeper what I wanted. Not once was I refused. I was a 5 foot 1, 105 pound kid with acne...there was no way I could have passed myself off as being of legal age. I would go in,order a beer and it was put in front of me. No questions asked. I would head to the liquor store, order a bottle of J&B scotch and hand over the money and leave with my illegally purchased fantasy maker. They never asked for any I.D.

The point is, the alcoholic...who in most cases is the one who will be the drunk driver...will always find a way to access the alcohol. Whether it is in the grocery or not, is not the biggest concern to the alcoholic. Neither are Sunday blue laws. There are places where the time frame is set for no alcohol to be sold until after noontime on Sunday...amazingly people are still drinking at 11:00A.M. It doesn't really make a difference whether or not the law allows it to be sold in certain places or at certain times. Worse comes worst...there are the standbys...mouthwash,cough syrup, vanilla extract, almond extract, banana extract (why do they put alcohol in those?) and various other over the counter items that do not fall under the umbrella of what is known as being alcohol.

(mixing up a vanilla extract and cough syrup cocktail...)

Hard liquor is "spirits" because it is distilled. Much of the water is removed in the distilling process leaving only the "spirits" of the mash.

Whole foods and Trader Joe's in Cambridge have been selling beer and wine for years. There wasn't an increase in anything except state license and tax revenue.

This is an issue about keeping small businesses afloat vs. letting them be overwhelmed by the bigger stores. The numbers of new sales venues will be limited by population size.

This was an interesting read. In my state you can buy beer and wine in grocery stores. No hard liquor. It just seems so natural to pick out what to make for dinner and find a nice bottle of wine to go with it.

The definition for 'spirits' makes sense... I still think it is an odd choice of words.
Eh..



I used to live in Crosbyton Tx. About 45 minutes east of lubbock.
Lubbock county is a ( this might have changed in the last 10 years) dry county.
Dry county meaning no package liquor of any sort is sold in the city. I seem to recall that it included banning of wine as well.

On the outskirts, sometimes literally inches from the county line, there were TONS of liquor stores.
The strip , as it was called, looked like a mini vegas.
Big bright lights, jugglers sometimes, large driveways.. and it was all for selling alcohol.

These places would be so backed up with cars that sometimes it would spill over onto the highway from the offramp, all the way down the access road and stop traffic for close to an entire mile.

At that time, I do believe the city of Lubbock had an average amount of drunk driver accidents ( nothing like the high rate places like New Mexico have ) , and one of the highest alcohol tax in the state. If not the country.

Being a dry county only meant they could not sell package liquor, but you could buy a drink almost any where.

Vodka, or... spirits... hehe.. were on the menu at most restaurants.

I even remember a small coffee shop , wich i doubt is still open, who was offering alcohol in coffee... first thing in the morning..

My then husband, a real budding alcoholic at 21, would drive that 45 minutes from Crosbyton with his friend, after they had drank most of his friends fathers vodka, to go buy more beer, wine, what ever.

Part of the reason we did not stay together for very long I tell you what..
(shudder)

any way-

On this route to get alcohol , I was always expecting a check point. I came from New Mexico where they would set up check points ANYWHERE in Albuquerque at ANY TIME. I loved it.
And I thought this was normal everywhere.. but apparently it isn't.

If Lubbock and Crosby county ( the two counties the strip served...) had set up check points coming in and going out of the liquor stores, the city would have made a killing on DWI fines, and I guarantee it would have made a huge difference in drunk driving accidents.

I personally think that things like what I used to call the drunk stops, ( check points) are the only thing that will make a difference with drunk drivers.

but i am going to get off my rambling post for right now.

Real grocers (aka TJ's) sell spirits. I complain to my local TJ's all the time.

It surprised me a few years ago, that I brought a six pack of near beer to the register at about ten minutes before noon, on a Sunday, and triggered a massive response from the manager. I and the clerk were made to understand that near beer falls under the same statutes as real beer. Rather than wait the extra ten minutes, I gave it back to them and left.

To me, there is no good reason beer and wine isn't sold on Sunday mornings. I always kept a six pack in the fridge for those times, when I drank heavily. Had to have it handy for the football that started at noon.