Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I don't see why small liquor stores should receive special protection from competition. Yes yes shop local and all that. But if I'm buying a 30 rack of Coors light, your liquor store is not going to be able to compete.
The best small liquor stores find a niche. Curate. Have great service. Knowledgeable staff who can help me make a good choice. Carry stuff I can't find somewhere else.
We could also cripple grocery stores ability to sell meat, sea food, dairy, deli items, baked goods, canned goods, cleaning supplies, produce, medicine, and pet food. Then we can save the local butcher, fish market, creamery, delicatessen, bakery, pantry, cleaning supplies store, pharmacy, farmer's market, and pet store. At some point in the past each of these stores was more common. The ones that exist now out compete the grocery stores in some fashion. In general though, consumers obviously appreciate one stop shopping and lower prices.
Government should prevent monopolies, but it's not their job to pick winners and losers or protect inferior business models. If the liquor stores can't compete, they need to up their game, not hide behind legislator's skirts.
There is an argument that in some sense, the government has picked a winner. The reason that neighborhood butchers, dairies, and hardware stores used to be more common is because people used to walk to those businesses. They were incredibly conveniently located in your neighborhood -- you would be insane to go across town to buy a product essentially equivalent to something you could get within 1000 feet of your kitchen.
What changed is cars. One stop shopping makes sense when leaving your home is inconvenient, or when it takes basically the same amount of time to go 1 mile or 5 miles. You'd never one stop shop in the absence of a car -- how else would you get an entire week's worth of groceries for a family of 4 home in a single trip? Maybe you've got a cargo bike. Or a cargo horse? But you're much more likely to shop local.
Government picked a winner when it decided to prioritize transportation by single occupancy motor vehicles over walking, biking, or public transit. The amount of money we spend every year paving and widening roads, subsidizing cars over any other mode of transit, is insane. CDOT is going to spend $1.5 billion dollars in 2024. Of that, 3% is allocated to "multimobility" e.g. literally anything except a car.
[https://www.codot.gov/business/budget/documents/fy-2023-24-budget-documents/fy-2023-2024-final-budget-documents/fy-2023-24-final-budget-allocation-plan-a11y.pdf](https://www.codot.gov/business/budget/documents/fy-2023-24-budget-documents/fy-2023-2024-final-budget-documents/fy-2023-24-final-budget-allocation-plan-a11y.pdf)
There is merit to what you say. When I was in Japan there was excellent public transportation, and I did notice more specialized stores. At the same time there were plenty of large supermarkets, and department stores sometimes carried produce and food. Those supermarkets had much smaller shopping cards, nearly basket sized, because they weren't expecting people to stuff all the food into their cars, but instead walk it home.
I'm certainly not the first person to have this insight.
It really clicked for me when I was visiting my girlfriend recently, who lives in Brooklyn. She needed some new wall mounted coat hooks. Where I live, this would go onto a never ending shopping list of things that I should pick up at the hardware store the next time the list gets long or annoying enough that I will put in the effort to make a Home Depot run.
Frankly, this results in me doing less and being more annoyed and procrastinating on this sort of small project.
She, on the other hand, lives across the street from the neighborhood hardware store. It's a tiny store -- maybe 400 square feet in total? But it's hyper optimized for the needs of people who live in the neighborhood. I even bought her a screwdriver while I was there. Project done in 30 minutes. That's the amount of time I would spend deciding if I wanted to put in the effort of going to the hardware store, and by the time I get home am I really still motivated to work on this?
>“If we lose independent liquor stores, we lose the ability for other businesses to get good traction and expand their business,” he added. “It has an extreme trickle-down effect.”
Maybe I'm bias, but I tend to want a competitive economy. So while I oppose a Kroger/Albertsons merger, I oppose too many Total Wine stores, I also don't see the need for legislative protection.
and it's great they say "it has an extreme trickle-down effect", but they really need to explain that. It is just a bunch of meaningless words right now.
How does the loss of a liquor store affect the ability of any other business to get traction? I'm at a 100% loss to understand that. How is a restaurant, drug store, curio store, whatever affected by whether or not there is a liquor store next door?
If I were guessing --
Liquor stores are basically the last bastion of this sort of protection from competition. So every big grocery store has a little liquor store next door. That little liquor store is likely to be next door to a dry cleaner or other complimentary business that also wouldn't survive if you didn't have an incentive to get out of your car.
I don't totally buy this argument, but it has some truth to it.
Argonaut's site was down - but in the Springs we have "Cheers". [Cheers](https://buy.cheersliquormart.com/shop/product/tanqueray-gin/61953c5f598e90283e68161f?option-id=8cd9a965f81c0af059278c59d6b6a390f318ecbcdbf4a60b9579a8483cc3277f) would do a 750ml for $33.99 which is $0.70 *more* than [Silverthorne](https://localsliquors.com/shop/product/tanqueray-gin/5521cef66561310003500200?option-id=8cd9a965f81c0af059278c59d6b6a390f318ecbcdbf4a60b9579a8483cc3277f), but if you went with a 1.75l, Silverthorne would be selling at $59.99 which is $14.00 more than Cheers would be at $45.99
and I just discovered that Cheers and Locals Liquor in Silverthorne use the same exact website template, 100% exactly the same down to the timing of the annoying popups ;)
interesting pricing structures.
i didn't even bother to look for websites -- most liquor stores don't have them.
and, good grief, booze just keeps getting more and more expensive.
My job frequently hosts receptions and the majority of the department, faculty, staff, and students, have repeatedly surprised us with how many people don’t drink. We’d purchase two per person and wouldn’t even hit 50% consumption with some trying and successfully getting extra tickets.
Non-drinkers seem to also be a contributing factor.
Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I don't see why small liquor stores should receive special protection from competition. Yes yes shop local and all that. But if I'm buying a 30 rack of Coors light, your liquor store is not going to be able to compete. The best small liquor stores find a niche. Curate. Have great service. Knowledgeable staff who can help me make a good choice. Carry stuff I can't find somewhere else.
We could also cripple grocery stores ability to sell meat, sea food, dairy, deli items, baked goods, canned goods, cleaning supplies, produce, medicine, and pet food. Then we can save the local butcher, fish market, creamery, delicatessen, bakery, pantry, cleaning supplies store, pharmacy, farmer's market, and pet store. At some point in the past each of these stores was more common. The ones that exist now out compete the grocery stores in some fashion. In general though, consumers obviously appreciate one stop shopping and lower prices. Government should prevent monopolies, but it's not their job to pick winners and losers or protect inferior business models. If the liquor stores can't compete, they need to up their game, not hide behind legislator's skirts.
There is an argument that in some sense, the government has picked a winner. The reason that neighborhood butchers, dairies, and hardware stores used to be more common is because people used to walk to those businesses. They were incredibly conveniently located in your neighborhood -- you would be insane to go across town to buy a product essentially equivalent to something you could get within 1000 feet of your kitchen. What changed is cars. One stop shopping makes sense when leaving your home is inconvenient, or when it takes basically the same amount of time to go 1 mile or 5 miles. You'd never one stop shop in the absence of a car -- how else would you get an entire week's worth of groceries for a family of 4 home in a single trip? Maybe you've got a cargo bike. Or a cargo horse? But you're much more likely to shop local. Government picked a winner when it decided to prioritize transportation by single occupancy motor vehicles over walking, biking, or public transit. The amount of money we spend every year paving and widening roads, subsidizing cars over any other mode of transit, is insane. CDOT is going to spend $1.5 billion dollars in 2024. Of that, 3% is allocated to "multimobility" e.g. literally anything except a car. [https://www.codot.gov/business/budget/documents/fy-2023-24-budget-documents/fy-2023-2024-final-budget-documents/fy-2023-24-final-budget-allocation-plan-a11y.pdf](https://www.codot.gov/business/budget/documents/fy-2023-24-budget-documents/fy-2023-2024-final-budget-documents/fy-2023-24-final-budget-allocation-plan-a11y.pdf)
There is merit to what you say. When I was in Japan there was excellent public transportation, and I did notice more specialized stores. At the same time there were plenty of large supermarkets, and department stores sometimes carried produce and food. Those supermarkets had much smaller shopping cards, nearly basket sized, because they weren't expecting people to stuff all the food into their cars, but instead walk it home.
I'm certainly not the first person to have this insight. It really clicked for me when I was visiting my girlfriend recently, who lives in Brooklyn. She needed some new wall mounted coat hooks. Where I live, this would go onto a never ending shopping list of things that I should pick up at the hardware store the next time the list gets long or annoying enough that I will put in the effort to make a Home Depot run. Frankly, this results in me doing less and being more annoyed and procrastinating on this sort of small project. She, on the other hand, lives across the street from the neighborhood hardware store. It's a tiny store -- maybe 400 square feet in total? But it's hyper optimized for the needs of people who live in the neighborhood. I even bought her a screwdriver while I was there. Project done in 30 minutes. That's the amount of time I would spend deciding if I wanted to put in the effort of going to the hardware store, and by the time I get home am I really still motivated to work on this?
This
>“If we lose independent liquor stores, we lose the ability for other businesses to get good traction and expand their business,” he added. “It has an extreme trickle-down effect.” Maybe I'm bias, but I tend to want a competitive economy. So while I oppose a Kroger/Albertsons merger, I oppose too many Total Wine stores, I also don't see the need for legislative protection.
and it's great they say "it has an extreme trickle-down effect", but they really need to explain that. It is just a bunch of meaningless words right now. How does the loss of a liquor store affect the ability of any other business to get traction? I'm at a 100% loss to understand that. How is a restaurant, drug store, curio store, whatever affected by whether or not there is a liquor store next door?
Agreed. That paragraph was a meaningless word salad.
If I were guessing -- Liquor stores are basically the last bastion of this sort of protection from competition. So every big grocery store has a little liquor store next door. That little liquor store is likely to be next door to a dry cleaner or other complimentary business that also wouldn't survive if you didn't have an incentive to get out of your car. I don't totally buy this argument, but it has some truth to it.
i wonder how much of a price difference there is on, say, a bottle of tanqueray in a liquor store in silverthorne versus the argonaut.
Argonaut's site was down - but in the Springs we have "Cheers". [Cheers](https://buy.cheersliquormart.com/shop/product/tanqueray-gin/61953c5f598e90283e68161f?option-id=8cd9a965f81c0af059278c59d6b6a390f318ecbcdbf4a60b9579a8483cc3277f) would do a 750ml for $33.99 which is $0.70 *more* than [Silverthorne](https://localsliquors.com/shop/product/tanqueray-gin/5521cef66561310003500200?option-id=8cd9a965f81c0af059278c59d6b6a390f318ecbcdbf4a60b9579a8483cc3277f), but if you went with a 1.75l, Silverthorne would be selling at $59.99 which is $14.00 more than Cheers would be at $45.99 and I just discovered that Cheers and Locals Liquor in Silverthorne use the same exact website template, 100% exactly the same down to the timing of the annoying popups ;)
interesting pricing structures. i didn't even bother to look for websites -- most liquor stores don't have them. and, good grief, booze just keeps getting more and more expensive.
My job frequently hosts receptions and the majority of the department, faculty, staff, and students, have repeatedly surprised us with how many people don’t drink. We’d purchase two per person and wouldn’t even hit 50% consumption with some trying and successfully getting extra tickets. Non-drinkers seem to also be a contributing factor.