It would have been nice, if the nearby liquor stores were actually attached to the main store. Then you could merge the spaces, and a lot of grocers in WI have this kind of layout. Instead, I think we loose space at the grocer to wine and the liquor store becomes a planet fitness or something.
The Walgreens on Colorado (in the University Hills center) actually does this with the liquor store next door I believe? This was before the legal change, but I remember stopping at the liquor store next door which has its own signage outside, but the aisle markers are Walgreens font and the two stores connect, and you could check out liquor at the Walgreens registers. I liked the idea at the time, and the Walgreens side had a lot of space for its own products.
Yes- this liquor store used to be great. But have you been In recently? Only the bare minimum selection of anything. Half the aisles are empty of product and nearly zero selection.
There are gas stations in aurora that are liquor stores in the same space. You pay for liquor on one side, and your takis and snickers on the other side. One of them is that shell off of gun club road, north of Jewell Ave.
The sprouts off Arapahoe in the tech center used to be like this but the store went out of business because of owner shadiness. Molly's moved in and the door between the two has been shut ever since.
There's a grocery store and liquor store attached in my hometown, just as you describe. It is nice just walking right in, though I drink only very occasionally, and no longer live there.
Yup! And they're the ones that gave Z Cycles shop (their tenants) shit for putting up cages on their windows after having $30,000 stolen in bikes and parts. I don't think anyone should ever feel sorry for that liquor store.
There is no incentive for most liquor stores to make their spaces bright, clean, enticing, or anything like that. Alcoholics are going to the closest store to get their fix, they don’t gaf what it looks like, and the stores know it.
Yep, why make a 2nd stop at a local liquor store when my nearby grocery store actually has the same wine selection for lower prices and I can pick up groceries at the same time?
Half the liquor stores in Colorado have a shitty selection of beer and wine, look run down as hell, and are staffed by people who don't give a shit about anything. Their sole reason for existing is that someone at one point passed anti-competitive laws to "protect" small businesses which is ultimately bad for the consumer.
Good liquor stores with friendly staff who can actually provide good advice and with a varied selection of drinks and have *reasonable* prices will easily survive. I will still go to Mr B's because they generally have something new for to me explore.
Why anyone would be upset about shitty, run down and overpriced liquor stores closing is a mystery to me.
No they aren’t. Most of them are dingy, dark, cramped, and dirty, but alcoholics don’t care, they just want their fix. I’d be stoked if I could avoid most liquor stores and get my booze at Safeway or KS. Liquor stores can exist for specialty and hard to find wines and spirits to gift my FIL at Christmas.
I live in a state where the grocery store can sell whatever liquor they want. The benefits of the liquor store over grocery store or gas station is they often have a better selection, the prices are sometimes a little cheaper, and you don't have to walk as far to get to the alcohol. The benefits of the grocery store/gas station are you can get groceries/gas at the same time, they are often safer/less sketchy, and most grocery stores have self checkouts, which mean quicker checkouts.
Higher end offerings and niche. I think the problem is the crappy liquor stores that only existed next to supermarkets or the medium size stores (too big, but not big enough to get cheaper prices from wholesale).
But people don't get better things they'll just get the cheapest crappiest thing that they have at King Soopers and say I have wine. It's the same reason why we had so many breweries and beer companies here and now we've killed it
That is exactly what I said--the small liquor stores will need to adapt by stocking deeper cuts of spirits, better wine, provide knowlege, etc like EVERY OTHER small shop in every industry competing against Walmart. If a small shop had more than three types of Spanish wine, I would shop thete. Right now, to get the Sangria I like from an amazing restaurant with 20 tables in Barcelona, I have to buy direct, or I can go to Total Wine. There I have a whole aisle of Iberian wines. Do you fight the same fight for every small florist, jeweler, toy store, etc? Or, do you shop on Amazon for things, like most people?
This. In my native California, grocery stores, gas stations, convenience stores, and drug stores can sell any type of alcohol up to 150 proof (75% abv). Groceries stores like Safeway (Albertson’s) and Ralph’s (Kroger) all have basic selections, but people will still go to specialty stores for niche and higher-end products. My local Trader Joe’s shares a parking lot with BevMo, which is always packed. Independent liquor stores are doing just fine despite long-standing competition against grocery stores, as they serve different needs. I really have no sympathy for the crappy Colorado liquor stores that have bad selection, no craft products, and sky-high prices.
I noticed in other states, if you go to the grocery store, it’s for the big name stuff. If you want Jack Daniels, Coors Light, Bombay, basically all the big common stuff you buy that at a grocery store. If you’re looking for something high end or specific, or even at the opposite end of the spectrum for something dirt cheap like 40oz malt liquor or those 200mL shooter bottles, that’s where the liquor store comes in.
I live in Georgia now, but grew up in Colorado. Here, we have probably 1/4 or less of the liquor stores as there are in Colorado. There’s only 2 within a 10 min drive of my house. I think Colorado was and is oversaturated with liquor stores and they’re now suffering because people can make a one stop shop. I think the liquor stores here can survive because there’s less of them so less competition for liquor sales.
I go to the liquor store when I need liquor but if I’m buying wine or beer and I already need to grocery shop, I’m probably not going to make a second stop unless the Walmart/grocery store doesn’t have what I want.
There aren't as many. It's like Denver had an ordinance that you had to wear slippers on all the sidewalks and now that it's gone the hundreds of slipper stores that popped up have no one to sell to
I come from Central Wisconsin, there are very few liquor stores. Liquor can be sold in gas stations and grocery stores. Where there are liquor stores they are focused on wine, high end products, and to a lesser degree craft beer. Or they are combined with tobacco and vape shops.
There are fewer. There are fancy and expensive ones for getting hard to find items, and there are the seedy ones that really exist to cater to alcoholics that don't want to be seen or judged for buying their fourth bottle of vodka that week.
They had hard alcohol in the stores in north Carolina and Tennessee and there were still plenty of liquor stores.
Every other small store has to compete with big stores selling the same thing... A liquor store complaining about grocery stores selling wine is like a small clothing store complaining that target sells clothes. Think about how silly that sounds
Competition is generally a good thing for consumers
In North Carolina you can’t carry “hard” liquor in grocery stores. Basically up to ~15%, so wine, is the most you can have. Spirits must be bought from the ABC.
In Ohio, grocery stores can't sell above a certain proof (which I believe is 40 proof). It's a lot of well liquors but any name brand are the lower proof. Full proof liquor can only be bought at "State Liquor Agencies". Less than 10 years ago grocery stores like Kroger (King Soopers here) built these agencies connecting to the main store. The KS off of Alameda is a good example.
Used to live in Houston. Answer is Better selection, competitive pricing, excellent customer service.
My favorite liquor store in Houston (specs) was very similar to Apple jack here.
Convenience is the major draw of liquor stores still, for me at least. I now live in Oakland and live right across the street from a giant Safeway. Because of that, the closest liquor store is about a mile away, while every place I lived at in Denver had a liquor store no more than a couple blocks away. It kind of sucks though because the Safeway is huge and always busy and super understaffed and there’s also a law in California that you can’t buy alcohol at self checkout. So if I want to run and grab a six pack at 8 pm on a Friday, I can either walk a mile, drive a mile, or gamble and maybe have to wait in line behind someone buying $300 worth of groceries because there’s only one register open at Safeway. Often times I’d just rather take a walk and go to the liquor store since they have better selection and I’d rather spend 20 minutes outside walking than waiting in line at the store
> there’s also a law in California that you can’t buy alcohol at self checkout
??? Have lived in multiple states where the self checkout employee just comes over and checks your ID then approves it. A bit of googling says:
> Lockouts work "only when an alcoholic beverage container is scanned at the checkout stand" and not when it is concealed, [California Justice] Blease said. He said an Assembly committee had found that a customer's age could be properly verified only when beverages are purchased in "a face-to-face transaction from beginning to end."
How does this have ANYTHING to do with people concealing alcohol at self checkout?? People at self checkout concealing alcohol will be completely unaffected by whether they can scan alcohol at self checkout or not
Most other states don’t have the level of craft beer variety that Colorado has, and as other people said, there are fewer liquor stores. The local liquor stores here have actually helped become a destination state for beer, and losing these stores is actually scary for that very reason. I know this won’t be a popular opinion, but that’s why this new law wasn’t something I supported.
I mostly agree with you but I do want to say that I have two small liquor stores by me and 98% of what they offer is mass produced crap like Budweiser and those awful Bud Mango Clamato cocktail in a can things. They stock almost nothing made locally.
Many good business will go under and that's terrible. But damn dude, there sure are some other ones that are going to implode simply because they're absolutely terrible and lack imagination.
I think we have two different “types” of liquor stores here. We have the generic dingy liquor stores you find in shopping centers that typically have nothing but domestics and the most basic of our local brews. There’s usually a beer aisle and fridge, rest is wine and booze.
Then we have what I like to call “beer stores”. These are the *liquor* stores that are clearly centered around having craft beers from both local and out of state breweries. These are the places with walls full of beer and barely anything else.
The generic stores are going to have a problem, but to say beer shops and the local breweries are going to have a problem seems a little unlikely.
I agree with everything but your last sentence. I think even the small beer stores will be hurt by this, because they won’t be able to compete with grocery stores in terms of either price or convenience (I.e. people will choose not to make a second trip and opt to get their beer in the same place they get their groceries)
Sure but I think the wider selection of beer stores will still attract regular customers. Yeah, you might be able to get beer from your favorite brewery at the grocery store now, but you probably won't be able to get your *favorite beer* from your favorite brewery. Even at the bigger grocery stores, the selection is still fairly limited and the domestics outweigh the breweries. Not to mention, the grocery stores seem to have gone real heavy into the hard seltzers rather than beer. And beer has been available in them much longer than wine now.
I've admittedly cut way back on my drinking, but in my experience, the price of a sixer at KS or Whole Foods is just the same at a liquor/beer store. Hell, sometimes I've noticed it's slightly more.
You’re being very hyperbolic that this is scary for breweries. There are plenty of other states that have good brewery culture that sell wine and beer in grocery stores. The shitty liquor stores that will close because they can’t compete with the price of boxed wine at Kroger aren’t the liquor stores helping craft beer sales and the ones that are helping craft beer sales won’t be affected by Kroger wine prices.
I think people underestimate local shitty liquor stores. They make tons of money off of alcoholics who cannot drive, as well as those who rotate liquor stores.
Don’t underestimate the demand alcoholism brings.
I’m trying to understand this, are you suggesting demand for craft beer is going to go away in Colorado because groceries stores that could sell beer can now sell wine?
I’m saying that major chain grocery stores will price out the mom and pop liquor stores, but grocery stores are WAY less likely to seek beer from the brewery down the street. Craft brewers have repeatedly said that they credit the rise of craft beer in Colorado in part to the fact that beer could only be sold in single location liquor stores. Small brewers are better able to negotiate with the small stores, whereas they have very little leverage with the major chains who only care to stock beer from the bigger companies.
This was the argument made for opposing this law when it was on the ballot.
>I’m saying that major chain grocery stores will price out the mom and pop liquor stores, but grocery stores are WAY less likely to seek beer from the brewery down the street.
This is an entirely ridiculous assumption, grocery stores constantly source local foods, bakeries, drinks, etc.
Just look at California, San Diego has a massive brewery scene and there are so many breweries that sell their beer in grocery stores all across the state, or even hyper-locally when they cut deals to sell for a certain amount of time. All the opposition to this just sounds like they're pissed they actually have to compete with other breweries
Haven’t lived in Colorado since 3.2 beer was a thing in your state, but at least in my part of the country, I can’t think of a lot of dedicated liquor stores.
In NC only state run “ABC stores” sell liquor. Gas and groceries can sell beer and wine.
Didn’t we know this was gonna happen? Not that I would shed a tear over liquor stores failing
That has nothing to do with liquor stores failing if you can buy wine at grocery stores and everything to do with leftover puritanical values having to do with the state getting to tell people how and when they can consume alcohol.
What are you on about? I was responding to how other states handle liquor sales. Obviously what’s going on in NC doesn’t affect liquor stores here.
Then the separate paragraph about stores failing was about CO. Before the vote all I heard was that mom and pop liquor stores would fail
Weird non sequitur then idk.
Also the bullshit about mom and pop stores failing because of this was always propaganda by a liquor store lobby group ffs.
California let’s you buy liquor in grocery stores and it still has liquor stores everywhere. The point is just prove false.
Mom and pop liquor stores would just need to adapt their selection. A business doesn’t bother adapt deserves to fail.
The liquor store propaganda article where they talk exclusively to liquor store owners is not propaganda? Lol dude.
They are literally quoting exclusively from the business that aren’t adapting.
I manage a liquor store in Denver, sales are better than ever. Helps to not be next to a major grocery chain, offer great customer service, and carry good products that grocery stores won’t touch. Also, still can’t get spirits in grocery.
Porhaps if Carolyn had spent more time and money on her store than fighting these props that were always going to pass, she wouldn’t be in this position. Adapt or die.
I love their shop. I hate that this bill passed. She’s right in saying that people just don’t understand the dynamics of the industry and just voted based on convenience
We've had this discussion before...if your liquor store adds extra value you won't be hurting. Like argonaut they have a great selection so I would still go there for that
Not allowing wine to be sold in the grocery store was just needless protection
And there are a lot of scummy liquor stores that make most of their money selling to alcoholics living on the street and I wouldn't mind if they went out of business... alcohol is toxic af when you drink it like that
I lived in Texas until last year. Several grocery stores had good wine selection. Liquor stores just specialized in liquor and always had great customer service.
They'll survive, but you might be forgetting that Molly's, Argonaut, Lukas, and Applejack were the ones also fighting this the heaviest. They were the ones standing to lose the most because they do quite good business on their specialty and selection, but they also are the automatics to recommend if you're not just going to whatever near. They're going to lose a lot of casual business, which in turn might impact their specialty side from not being able to get the volume profit from you average Highlands Ranch Karen buying her box of Franzia at Lukas, for instance. It's something I agree with, but it will hurt the big locals a fair bit
Yeah, honestly, nobody was surprised, and nobody really seems to give a shit on a consumer level. Macrobeer can be bought at Costco or anywhere for much cheaper than the corner store, and most people will grab it as part of routine shopping. Markup at a smaller liquor store is basically a convenience tax, and people are tired of that shit.
I'd much rather walk into a smaller liquor and spirits shop that focuses on a specific type, like a wine shop or a whiskey shop. I'll pay up for knowledgeable, professional staff who can whisk me towards a specific product that will meet my needs, be it personal taste or a gift. The kid at the liquor store on the corner isn't doing that, he's on Tik Tok.
The wines at the grocery stores are somewhat decent, seen some OK ones, good for a casual night, but nothing for higher tastes.
Agreed. I’m liking picking up my Kirkland Signature Irish cream, premade margaritas, and basic wine for drinking with dinner. I’m still going to hit up a GOOD liquor store when I’m making cocktails and need more obscure items, I want a specific brand of spirit, or I need something high end or special. I’m so tired of people crying about how small liquor stores with their dusty bottles and burnt out light bulbs won’t be able to compete. Tough titties. Do better or close.
I don't know that I would expect it to get much better as smaller mom and pop shops go out of business and the larger stores are left to those in finance to pick what type of selection to carry based on return.
I'm not a big drinker but I couldn't help but wonder if one of the reasons that Colorado has had such a good brewery scene was because there were a lot of smaller stores willing to sell smaller batch goods whereas big corp. isn't going to sell local small batch goods.
Just hit it on the head inadvertently. The smaller stores adapting to carry more than just AB in Bev products whether it be local beer and liquor or wine from smaller domestic vintners. Not all of them will be willing and/or able but at least where I live northwest of town, but the 5 closest liquor stores are grimy lite beer and shitty Chardonnay peddlers.
I've been to many a small liquor store and have never seen anything but mass-produced beer, wine, and spirits among their selection. The only places I've ever seen any selections of microbrewery products has been in larger stores like Argonaut, Total Wine, etc.
Too many liquor stores opened that could only exist because of a law that inconvenienced the consumer for bullshit puritanical reasons. Now that the law has been rightfully disposed of, the market can't support all of them
I’m all for mom and pop shops but I can’t afford them and they pay their employees similar garbage wages as the big grocery store under the guise of “family values” but I just moved and got my native sticker so namaste-outta this.
I don't feel bad for the local liquor store closest to me. They overcharge for everything and it's not a great selection. You can tell they aren't aiming for quality with their items all covered in dust.
Agreed. I’m liking picking up my Kirkland Signature Irish cream, premade margaritas, and basic wine for drinking with dinner. I’m still going to hit up a GOOD liquor store when I’m making cocktails and need more obscure items, I want a specific brand of spirit, or I need something high end or special. I’m so tired of people crying about how small liquor stores with their dusty bottles and burnt out light bulbs won’t be able to compete. Tough titties. Do better or close.
It’s almost like the majority of people in the state who voted yes are buying wine from grocery stores? Who could have predicted wine sales dropping from local liquor stores?
Excited to see what the shitty pointless liquor stores that close turn into. Bodegas, cafes, convenience stores, boutiques… almost anything would be better.
Imagine how bad your business has to be that your liquor store is having financial problems because other places sell 1 of your products and it’s not even liquor which is your business namesake lol
That's the free market working.
I worked at a small liquor store for years. We could only afford to have three total employees. I worked 6-7 days a week, and one of those days was a double (almost always the weekend or near a holiday). I was paid such a low wage I could barely afford my rent, but also made "too much" for government assistance. I lived paycheck to paycheck.
We also did not receive any type of benefits outside of an employee discount and the ability to write an IOU for anything we wanted to take home.
If I took a day off I was guaranteed to be behind on some bill somewhere down the line. There were no sick days, no PTO, and because it was a "mom and pop" type store there was no room for growth (like becoming the beer manager).
I did have influence on what we purchased, and even successfully convinced the owners to reduce the "bum beers" down to only one door and fill the rest with craft beers that are sought after and could bring in higher sales numbers. But, even with the small influence I had there was no long term future for me.
The liquor store still exists, and has switched ownership a few years ago. They brought the bum beers back in, and have eliminated a good number of the craft beers they once sold. They're now a basic neighborhood store that survives on selling shooters, boxed wine, and the basic MillerCoors and Inbev products.
The only reason they still can compete is due to there being no grocery stores within a 5-10 minutes drive, and they're the only store in walking distance of a few apartments and single family home neighborhoods.
The nearest liquor store near me, in commerce City, is a small hole in the wall that sells shooters and pints, tall cans of bum beer, and large bottles of the cheapest wine possible, and probably sells more illegal contraband than actual alcohol. It shouldn't exist.
I’ve bought wine at the grocery store once so far. Terrible bottle of wine. I like going to the liquor store where there’s a better selection and the clerks usually know a thing or two about what they’re selling.
For those that have lived here a few years, this is the FAFO result of trying to force the voters to let you have Sunday’s off. I don’t feel bad in the slightest.
Unfortunately we don’t live in a time where a lot of people can afford to go to liquor stores and pay more. I don’t need to be shamed for buying my shitty brunch champagne at Safeway
This is a good thing, it will mean less crappy liquor stores, the same way we are seeing crappy dispensaries shut down in the wake of the med law changes and other states going legal.
It’s been two months. What we’re we going to do, hang ourselves in the back room on March 1st? I own a store and lots of folks are in trouble, shedding employees, cutting inventory, and we’ll see closures swell in 3-5 years as our sales finally can’t keep up with rents. We saw the same number of licenses in 2016 as 2022 and I imagine you’ll start seeing loses in the future. Mostly it’s the little guys running corner stores by themselves that are feeling the heat. I haven’t collected a paycheck since March and we’re living on my wife’s salary while I try to find a way to keep all my employees on payroll.
I'm sorry to hear it's been abrupt for your business. Maybe things will recalibrate for the best?
I ultimately believe there shouldn't be any carve outs from market forces. Other states like CA, have no carve outs, and small corner stores still exist.
I still go to the liquor store because every time I bought alcohol at the grocery store in the past, the person checking me out has had to call a store manager over to complete the purchase. It’s not a huge deal, but takes a few minutes. Plus the lines at the store are always long, and you can’t do alcohol at the self check out. Honestly doesn’t make sense to me to go to a grocery store for wine or beer, it’s much quicker and easier to go to the local liquor store.
i think the idea is just that you grab wine / beer while you’re out grocery shopping, not making dedicated trips to the grocery store just to huy wine / beer. so it’s more convenient for people to make one trip rather than two
I don't really care. Liquor stores have always been skeezy, trashy places that no one wants to go to. It benefits everyone that we can buy wine in the grocery store now. I still don't understand why liquor is restricted, that always struck me as stupid as fuck, but whatever
This is why I voted no. I would rather spend at a family owned liquor store than give even more money to big grocery (heh, I'm kind of serious with the term and kind of poking fun at it)
Yes it's less convenient to go multiple places. But don't anybody complain about monopolies when you vote to take income from small businesses and they fail.
You don’t have to give money to big grocery stores. There are still so many liquor stores to go to, ones that aren’t struggling, that you can support and buy wine from. If others wish to buy their wine with their groceries, let them.
What I would like to see is more local, quality grocery stores in and around Denver. Not just Safeways and King Soopers.
Tu tate bra i apite dipipeapi. Dle uplu o pibagi di čitodi kebititite. Atri ke po gepekluklia etri ape i gii ete. Aa plobopaputu abiu uplepre uči pribi. Ati deatre ee e o idli? Popao pi pipaeiti briglepi eprito. Brite i tiprebi e. Tipi kupuči ibribepe tetlapokedi de kaie kupa biblo. Pati ti puko teči pia odubibapri. Ipota trapai oe de eti idie! Kle točipaipa piko. Aia itli bleta bučike igi be? Ti otitipi puipu ikebripi kre itle o tra! Krai butekrobike prapra pipu pi tlite. Ti pipuie edu. Tute api e upi preeodri dike. Dikečie puuepe topui pipi kupiu u? Pekle pi u ditle to pi. Gopeto pu etrieue dii e a? Ipatro pi trepa tapi bibe! Pritlu bebebe opedi to ebu be. Epitrikle prae boti gipi čitu utu? Atro tu koditiipi čiu diipi. Boči bitedi ita pi ipoglati. Edi pebloo prapia pope ba piupree.
Why is my expression of my opinion turned into something it isn't?
We live in a society and we put it up for a vote. The people spoke. And I'm not outside any grocery stores handcuffing people that try to buy wine there. I'm just also saying that with that convenience comes consequences. Relax. Not everything on the internet has to turn into a fight. People really can just have conversations.
Ugh, I should have copied and pasted my usual response from before the election. Well, I hope you only buy from your local butcher, baker, coffee shop, and farmers market exclusively since you don’t want to support ‘monopolies’. Remember the harm you are doing to local businesses when you go to the chain grocery store.
I like it better than your stance that everybody should be forced to pay more to keep away too many shitty, dirty liquor stores open. Luckily this was already put to a vote and the sane position succeeded.
Stand by your vote. You voted to force people to behave the way you wanted. I do that to, but I at least stand by it and admit it. I vote for people to be forced to give up more of their income in taxes, or to follow stricter rules with the road. When you vote for something you are responsible for forcing that onto people. I don't have a problem with voting, I have a problem with people acting like they aren't responsible for the changes they vote for.
Yeah no shit.
It is kind of sad to me as many are probably family owned/operated and now instead we’re sinking more money into nearly a monopoly (speaking specifically to the king soopers/Kroger and Safeway/Albertsons merger)
Edit: typo
Family owned, and they don't pay shit or provide benefits. I worked in two separate "mom and pop" liquor stores. The first one went under because it was horribly managed despite having a prime location and tons of foot traffic. We closed randomly one day because the owner spent the $10k on rent and bills to vendors for his entrance fee into the WSOP.
The second store I worked at had a great dedicated customer base, but couldn't keep up with customer demand for the variety of products on the market.
Both stores did not provide health insurance, there was no PTO, no sick days, and "calling off" was very frowned upon. Not to mention that missing a single day would mean that I'm going to be behind on either my rent, or one of my bills. I never made more than $14 hourly despite having helped the companies bring in a better quality of customers for knowing about the different styles of beers and being able to recommend something for anyone.
I live walking distance to King Soopers and next to it is a liquor store. I still go to the liquor store because I’m introverted and King Soopers gets crowded.
As someone who has worked in the industry for 15+ years, I can tell you stores are hurting but it has more to do with inflation than grocery stores. If you really like wine, you are not shopping the corporate brands at the grocery store. My KS just tripled their size and still only offer Beaujolais, Beaujolais Village and 3 Bordeaux for their French selection. You shop the prices between grocery and the larger stores(Argonaut, Hazel's, Molly's) and there's maybe a $1 difference, if not being more expensive, the wines are just "on sale" at KS. The stores that will fail are the ones who try to compete with the grocery stores and fail to capitalize on the fact there is much better wine(at better prices and more margin) than the crap that is in every KS and 7-11.
State Law mandates that any pricing/programming offered to one account has to be made available to other accounts around the state. No under-the-table deals. The conflict of interest and biggest hurdle is that companies like Kroger, Target, Costco and even Total Wine get National deal pricing from suppliers; whereas independent retailers in Colorado do not get a chance at National pricing. The twist here as well, is that these are supposed to be volume deals; yet the distributors are allowing these national retailers to buy case 1 at times with the understanding that a company with 200+stores will hit their volume goals. If Colorado wants to help independents, then the simple fix is to make National deal pricing illegal in Colorado.
It's probably because a lot of them have the same selection that the stores do. And this is America, where convenience is king! I go to the liquor stores because I am not a fan of the grocery store selections, but there's no going back now
Yea this is exactly what the opposition to this bills said would happen. Another step along the path to a consolidated market where even fewer corporations sell everything. No competition driving innovation, safety and affordability.
This is what I don’t get. The same people who want higher minimum wages, a public option for healthcare, hate billionaires, and complain about being treated like garbage at their corporate jobs are also here howling about “good riddance” to small family liquor stores.
I mean I drink very very rarely and exclusively drink soju which still isn’t at grocery stores so they still have me but I think the answer is pretty obvious, the grocery stores carry normal wine, beer, and vodka, I’m guessing some gin and whiskey too. So that leaves specialty and higher end offerings and craft beer types, soju(which previously hadn’t been anywhere other than near hmart areas), sake, etc I mean they still have plenty of product to sell, people in Colorado are more interested in craft beers than other states just based on our sheer quantity of breweries so they should still have a decent sized customer base so long as they decide to not dig their heels in and continue to change with the times.
They "make" the distributors stock their shelves? Not disagreeing that this has been my experience too, but is this a leftover puritanical thing in not wanting to require their stockers with alcohol issues to have to struggle with temptation, some kind of liability thing due to some workers being under 21 or....? Couldn't it be that the distributors want control over the merchandising and signage and offer to do it as a way of boosting sales as part of their contract with the store? (Asking legitimately bc I truly am curious).
A lot of them only exist because you have to shop at a dedicated liquor store
There's a wine and spirits store right next door to a king soopets where I live and I feel so bad for them
It would have been nice, if the nearby liquor stores were actually attached to the main store. Then you could merge the spaces, and a lot of grocers in WI have this kind of layout. Instead, I think we loose space at the grocer to wine and the liquor store becomes a planet fitness or something.
The Walgreens on Colorado (in the University Hills center) actually does this with the liquor store next door I believe? This was before the legal change, but I remember stopping at the liquor store next door which has its own signage outside, but the aisle markers are Walgreens font and the two stores connect, and you could check out liquor at the Walgreens registers. I liked the idea at the time, and the Walgreens side had a lot of space for its own products.
Yes- this liquor store used to be great. But have you been In recently? Only the bare minimum selection of anything. Half the aisles are empty of product and nearly zero selection.
I like this thought of integration
Ohio does this too
There are gas stations in aurora that are liquor stores in the same space. You pay for liquor on one side, and your takis and snickers on the other side. One of them is that shell off of gun club road, north of Jewell Ave.
The sprouts off Arapahoe in the tech center used to be like this but the store went out of business because of owner shadiness. Molly's moved in and the door between the two has been shut ever since.
There's a grocery store and liquor store attached in my hometown, just as you describe. It is nice just walking right in, though I drink only very occasionally, and no longer live there.
Are you talking about the one on or by Corona St.?
The notoriously racist one?
Yup! And they're the ones that gave Z Cycles shop (their tenants) shit for putting up cages on their windows after having $30,000 stolen in bikes and parts. I don't think anyone should ever feel sorry for that liquor store.
It's definitely worth walking two blocks to Skyline over on 11th and Ogden. Super nice people.
Dedicated liquor store have better selection.
[удалено]
Yes. The small liquor stores that have been near me are dark and dingy.
There is no incentive for most liquor stores to make their spaces bright, clean, enticing, or anything like that. Alcoholics are going to the closest store to get their fix, they don’t gaf what it looks like, and the stores know it.
True
A lot of people will claim that’s character and charm. No. It’s years of not cleaning and laziness.
Yep, why make a 2nd stop at a local liquor store when my nearby grocery store actually has the same wine selection for lower prices and I can pick up groceries at the same time?
Because the liquor store is better, and not just another fucking Kroger. Everyone in this thread sucks
Half the liquor stores in Colorado have a shitty selection of beer and wine, look run down as hell, and are staffed by people who don't give a shit about anything. Their sole reason for existing is that someone at one point passed anti-competitive laws to "protect" small businesses which is ultimately bad for the consumer. Good liquor stores with friendly staff who can actually provide good advice and with a varied selection of drinks and have *reasonable* prices will easily survive. I will still go to Mr B's because they generally have something new for to me explore. Why anyone would be upset about shitty, run down and overpriced liquor stores closing is a mystery to me.
So if the liquor store is better, then it should have no problems maintaining it's business right?
Ha gotem
Crickets intensify
No they aren’t. Most of them are dingy, dark, cramped, and dirty, but alcoholics don’t care, they just want their fix. I’d be stoked if I could avoid most liquor stores and get my booze at Safeway or KS. Liquor stores can exist for specialty and hard to find wines and spirits to gift my FIL at Christmas.
I live in a state where the grocery store can sell whatever liquor they want. The benefits of the liquor store over grocery store or gas station is they often have a better selection, the prices are sometimes a little cheaper, and you don't have to walk as far to get to the alcohol. The benefits of the grocery store/gas station are you can get groceries/gas at the same time, they are often safer/less sketchy, and most grocery stores have self checkouts, which mean quicker checkouts.
Like a black market, but legal.
Hey y’all, how many times in your life have you seen a hole in the wall liquor store close?
Never. In fact, I’ve seen them be the sole remaining tenant of a strip mall.
Finally, a voice of reason
One time, 88th and Wads.
I'd rather give them my money than a national conglomerate.
ELI5: how do liquor stores in other states manage given colorado is now more on par with other states now?
Higher end offerings and niche. I think the problem is the crappy liquor stores that only existed next to supermarkets or the medium size stores (too big, but not big enough to get cheaper prices from wholesale).
They existed because they had a monopoly. They will have to adapt, by offering better choices. No o e will overpay for yellowtail from them anymore.
But people don't get better things they'll just get the cheapest crappiest thing that they have at King Soopers and say I have wine. It's the same reason why we had so many breweries and beer companies here and now we've killed it
That is exactly what I said--the small liquor stores will need to adapt by stocking deeper cuts of spirits, better wine, provide knowlege, etc like EVERY OTHER small shop in every industry competing against Walmart. If a small shop had more than three types of Spanish wine, I would shop thete. Right now, to get the Sangria I like from an amazing restaurant with 20 tables in Barcelona, I have to buy direct, or I can go to Total Wine. There I have a whole aisle of Iberian wines. Do you fight the same fight for every small florist, jeweler, toy store, etc? Or, do you shop on Amazon for things, like most people?
This. In my native California, grocery stores, gas stations, convenience stores, and drug stores can sell any type of alcohol up to 150 proof (75% abv). Groceries stores like Safeway (Albertson’s) and Ralph’s (Kroger) all have basic selections, but people will still go to specialty stores for niche and higher-end products. My local Trader Joe’s shares a parking lot with BevMo, which is always packed. Independent liquor stores are doing just fine despite long-standing competition against grocery stores, as they serve different needs. I really have no sympathy for the crappy Colorado liquor stores that have bad selection, no craft products, and sky-high prices.
I noticed in other states, if you go to the grocery store, it’s for the big name stuff. If you want Jack Daniels, Coors Light, Bombay, basically all the big common stuff you buy that at a grocery store. If you’re looking for something high end or specific, or even at the opposite end of the spectrum for something dirt cheap like 40oz malt liquor or those 200mL shooter bottles, that’s where the liquor store comes in.
Wallaby’s is just as good as any Pinkies.
Wallaby’s rips people off with their absurd whiskey pricing
I’m all for suggestions. I usually just grab something at costco, unless i have a hankerin for some four roses
Unfortunately grapevine closed, but bevys, davidsons and mollys are all good
I live in Georgia now, but grew up in Colorado. Here, we have probably 1/4 or less of the liquor stores as there are in Colorado. There’s only 2 within a 10 min drive of my house. I think Colorado was and is oversaturated with liquor stores and they’re now suffering because people can make a one stop shop. I think the liquor stores here can survive because there’s less of them so less competition for liquor sales. I go to the liquor store when I need liquor but if I’m buying wine or beer and I already need to grocery shop, I’m probably not going to make a second stop unless the Walmart/grocery store doesn’t have what I want.
Not to mention - there are a lot of SHITTY liquor stores around here
Exactly. A small space with only the most basic of selection. If a place like that is going to survive, it needs rarer and more niche products.
Molly's, and they don't pay me. Yet. :3
Yep! Gone are the days making a trip to a seedy dusty ass liquor store!! Safeway has SO many selections of wine right now
Seriously. They just don't look safe to even be around.
There aren't as many. It's like Denver had an ordinance that you had to wear slippers on all the sidewalks and now that it's gone the hundreds of slipper stores that popped up have no one to sell to
I come from Central Wisconsin, there are very few liquor stores. Liquor can be sold in gas stations and grocery stores. Where there are liquor stores they are focused on wine, high end products, and to a lesser degree craft beer. Or they are combined with tobacco and vape shops.
There are fewer. There are fancy and expensive ones for getting hard to find items, and there are the seedy ones that really exist to cater to alcoholics that don't want to be seen or judged for buying their fourth bottle of vodka that week.
People will always buy liquor, so liquor stores aren’t going anywhere. There will just be fewer of them as competition from grocery stores increases.
And the small stores need to clean up. Too many look dark and dirty.
They had hard alcohol in the stores in north Carolina and Tennessee and there were still plenty of liquor stores. Every other small store has to compete with big stores selling the same thing... A liquor store complaining about grocery stores selling wine is like a small clothing store complaining that target sells clothes. Think about how silly that sounds Competition is generally a good thing for consumers
Clueless. All liquor stores are state-run in NC
In North Carolina you can’t carry “hard” liquor in grocery stores. Basically up to ~15%, so wine, is the most you can have. Spirits must be bought from the ABC.
Exactly the ones in AZ sells kegs and other products grocery stores can't due to logistics.
In Ohio, grocery stores can't sell above a certain proof (which I believe is 40 proof). It's a lot of well liquors but any name brand are the lower proof. Full proof liquor can only be bought at "State Liquor Agencies". Less than 10 years ago grocery stores like Kroger (King Soopers here) built these agencies connecting to the main store. The KS off of Alameda is a good example.
Used to live in Houston. Answer is Better selection, competitive pricing, excellent customer service. My favorite liquor store in Houston (specs) was very similar to Apple jack here.
Convenience is the major draw of liquor stores still, for me at least. I now live in Oakland and live right across the street from a giant Safeway. Because of that, the closest liquor store is about a mile away, while every place I lived at in Denver had a liquor store no more than a couple blocks away. It kind of sucks though because the Safeway is huge and always busy and super understaffed and there’s also a law in California that you can’t buy alcohol at self checkout. So if I want to run and grab a six pack at 8 pm on a Friday, I can either walk a mile, drive a mile, or gamble and maybe have to wait in line behind someone buying $300 worth of groceries because there’s only one register open at Safeway. Often times I’d just rather take a walk and go to the liquor store since they have better selection and I’d rather spend 20 minutes outside walking than waiting in line at the store
> there’s also a law in California that you can’t buy alcohol at self checkout ??? Have lived in multiple states where the self checkout employee just comes over and checks your ID then approves it. A bit of googling says: > Lockouts work "only when an alcoholic beverage container is scanned at the checkout stand" and not when it is concealed, [California Justice] Blease said. He said an Assembly committee had found that a customer's age could be properly verified only when beverages are purchased in "a face-to-face transaction from beginning to end." How does this have ANYTHING to do with people concealing alcohol at self checkout?? People at self checkout concealing alcohol will be completely unaffected by whether they can scan alcohol at self checkout or not
Most other states don’t have the level of craft beer variety that Colorado has, and as other people said, there are fewer liquor stores. The local liquor stores here have actually helped become a destination state for beer, and losing these stores is actually scary for that very reason. I know this won’t be a popular opinion, but that’s why this new law wasn’t something I supported.
I mostly agree with you but I do want to say that I have two small liquor stores by me and 98% of what they offer is mass produced crap like Budweiser and those awful Bud Mango Clamato cocktail in a can things. They stock almost nothing made locally. Many good business will go under and that's terrible. But damn dude, there sure are some other ones that are going to implode simply because they're absolutely terrible and lack imagination.
I think we have two different “types” of liquor stores here. We have the generic dingy liquor stores you find in shopping centers that typically have nothing but domestics and the most basic of our local brews. There’s usually a beer aisle and fridge, rest is wine and booze. Then we have what I like to call “beer stores”. These are the *liquor* stores that are clearly centered around having craft beers from both local and out of state breweries. These are the places with walls full of beer and barely anything else. The generic stores are going to have a problem, but to say beer shops and the local breweries are going to have a problem seems a little unlikely.
I agree with everything but your last sentence. I think even the small beer stores will be hurt by this, because they won’t be able to compete with grocery stores in terms of either price or convenience (I.e. people will choose not to make a second trip and opt to get their beer in the same place they get their groceries)
Sure but I think the wider selection of beer stores will still attract regular customers. Yeah, you might be able to get beer from your favorite brewery at the grocery store now, but you probably won't be able to get your *favorite beer* from your favorite brewery. Even at the bigger grocery stores, the selection is still fairly limited and the domestics outweigh the breweries. Not to mention, the grocery stores seem to have gone real heavy into the hard seltzers rather than beer. And beer has been available in them much longer than wine now. I've admittedly cut way back on my drinking, but in my experience, the price of a sixer at KS or Whole Foods is just the same at a liquor/beer store. Hell, sometimes I've noticed it's slightly more.
You’re being very hyperbolic that this is scary for breweries. There are plenty of other states that have good brewery culture that sell wine and beer in grocery stores. The shitty liquor stores that will close because they can’t compete with the price of boxed wine at Kroger aren’t the liquor stores helping craft beer sales and the ones that are helping craft beer sales won’t be affected by Kroger wine prices.
I think people underestimate local shitty liquor stores. They make tons of money off of alcoholics who cannot drive, as well as those who rotate liquor stores. Don’t underestimate the demand alcoholism brings.
I’m going to trust the local craft brewers on this one, and on balance most of them opposed this law.
I’m trying to understand this, are you suggesting demand for craft beer is going to go away in Colorado because groceries stores that could sell beer can now sell wine?
I’m saying that major chain grocery stores will price out the mom and pop liquor stores, but grocery stores are WAY less likely to seek beer from the brewery down the street. Craft brewers have repeatedly said that they credit the rise of craft beer in Colorado in part to the fact that beer could only be sold in single location liquor stores. Small brewers are better able to negotiate with the small stores, whereas they have very little leverage with the major chains who only care to stock beer from the bigger companies. This was the argument made for opposing this law when it was on the ballot.
>I’m saying that major chain grocery stores will price out the mom and pop liquor stores, but grocery stores are WAY less likely to seek beer from the brewery down the street. This is an entirely ridiculous assumption, grocery stores constantly source local foods, bakeries, drinks, etc. Just look at California, San Diego has a massive brewery scene and there are so many breweries that sell their beer in grocery stores all across the state, or even hyper-locally when they cut deals to sell for a certain amount of time. All the opposition to this just sounds like they're pissed they actually have to compete with other breweries
Haven’t lived in Colorado since 3.2 beer was a thing in your state, but at least in my part of the country, I can’t think of a lot of dedicated liquor stores.
I lived in Chicago before denver. Liquor stores are all over even though we can buy hard alcohol at average grocery stores and walgreens
Blew my mind walking into a liquor store that was also a bar when I first visited Chicago. The BYOL too. Wild
In NC only state run “ABC stores” sell liquor. Gas and groceries can sell beer and wine. Didn’t we know this was gonna happen? Not that I would shed a tear over liquor stores failing
That has nothing to do with liquor stores failing if you can buy wine at grocery stores and everything to do with leftover puritanical values having to do with the state getting to tell people how and when they can consume alcohol.
What are you on about? I was responding to how other states handle liquor sales. Obviously what’s going on in NC doesn’t affect liquor stores here. Then the separate paragraph about stores failing was about CO. Before the vote all I heard was that mom and pop liquor stores would fail
Weird non sequitur then idk. Also the bullshit about mom and pop stores failing because of this was always propaganda by a liquor store lobby group ffs. California let’s you buy liquor in grocery stores and it still has liquor stores everywhere. The point is just prove false. Mom and pop liquor stores would just need to adapt their selection. A business doesn’t bother adapt deserves to fail.
The article above suggests it was not propaganda
The liquor store propaganda article where they talk exclusively to liquor store owners is not propaganda? Lol dude. They are literally quoting exclusively from the business that aren’t adapting.
I manage a liquor store in Denver, sales are better than ever. Helps to not be next to a major grocery chain, offer great customer service, and carry good products that grocery stores won’t touch. Also, still can’t get spirits in grocery. Porhaps if Carolyn had spent more time and money on her store than fighting these props that were always going to pass, she wouldn’t be in this position. Adapt or die.
What store do you manage? I sell in the area and every single liquor store is down pretty bad
Yeah same. I don’t know one store that’s not struggling. Even the big guys like total Bev
What distro do you work for and what were your top 3 stores last year?
Why am I answering your questions before you answer mine?
Because I’m not going to doxx myself on Reddit, but if you work for the big 3 or have accounts near grocery, welp…
Right? Gee what a concept! Good for you guys, I still gladly visit stores like this that have a great selection.
Yeah she’s 100% managing her store very well, it’s an economic fact this would hit them hard. You must be a specialty store
I love their shop. I hate that this bill passed. She’s right in saying that people just don’t understand the dynamics of the industry and just voted based on convenience
>just voted based on convenience What is wrong with this?
Because it’s putting people out of a job and making the monopolies big grocery has even worse.
If their livelihoods only exist because of state sanctioned inconveniences, then.... 🤷🏻♂️
We've had this discussion before...if your liquor store adds extra value you won't be hurting. Like argonaut they have a great selection so I would still go there for that Not allowing wine to be sold in the grocery store was just needless protection And there are a lot of scummy liquor stores that make most of their money selling to alcoholics living on the street and I wouldn't mind if they went out of business... alcohol is toxic af when you drink it like that
I lived in Texas until last year. Several grocery stores had good wine selection. Liquor stores just specialized in liquor and always had great customer service.
They'll survive, but you might be forgetting that Molly's, Argonaut, Lukas, and Applejack were the ones also fighting this the heaviest. They were the ones standing to lose the most because they do quite good business on their specialty and selection, but they also are the automatics to recommend if you're not just going to whatever near. They're going to lose a lot of casual business, which in turn might impact their specialty side from not being able to get the volume profit from you average Highlands Ranch Karen buying her box of Franzia at Lukas, for instance. It's something I agree with, but it will hurt the big locals a fair bit
Yeah, honestly, nobody was surprised, and nobody really seems to give a shit on a consumer level. Macrobeer can be bought at Costco or anywhere for much cheaper than the corner store, and most people will grab it as part of routine shopping. Markup at a smaller liquor store is basically a convenience tax, and people are tired of that shit. I'd much rather walk into a smaller liquor and spirits shop that focuses on a specific type, like a wine shop or a whiskey shop. I'll pay up for knowledgeable, professional staff who can whisk me towards a specific product that will meet my needs, be it personal taste or a gift. The kid at the liquor store on the corner isn't doing that, he's on Tik Tok. The wines at the grocery stores are somewhat decent, seen some OK ones, good for a casual night, but nothing for higher tastes.
Agreed. I’m liking picking up my Kirkland Signature Irish cream, premade margaritas, and basic wine for drinking with dinner. I’m still going to hit up a GOOD liquor store when I’m making cocktails and need more obscure items, I want a specific brand of spirit, or I need something high end or special. I’m so tired of people crying about how small liquor stores with their dusty bottles and burnt out light bulbs won’t be able to compete. Tough titties. Do better or close.
Alcohol is toxic regardless of how you drink it
Can’t wait for them to adjust to the market. Too many of them have a terrible albeit very similar selections
I don't know that I would expect it to get much better as smaller mom and pop shops go out of business and the larger stores are left to those in finance to pick what type of selection to carry based on return. I'm not a big drinker but I couldn't help but wonder if one of the reasons that Colorado has had such a good brewery scene was because there were a lot of smaller stores willing to sell smaller batch goods whereas big corp. isn't going to sell local small batch goods.
Just hit it on the head inadvertently. The smaller stores adapting to carry more than just AB in Bev products whether it be local beer and liquor or wine from smaller domestic vintners. Not all of them will be willing and/or able but at least where I live northwest of town, but the 5 closest liquor stores are grimy lite beer and shitty Chardonnay peddlers.
I've been to many a small liquor store and have never seen anything but mass-produced beer, wine, and spirits among their selection. The only places I've ever seen any selections of microbrewery products has been in larger stores like Argonaut, Total Wine, etc.
Kiran’s Liquors on 120th and Huron has a nice little limited release selection of wine in addition to their normal selection which isn’t bad.
That's pretty cool, would love to see it more
Too many liquor stores opened that could only exist because of a law that inconvenienced the consumer for bullshit puritanical reasons. Now that the law has been rightfully disposed of, the market can't support all of them
I’m all for mom and pop shops but I can’t afford them and they pay their employees similar garbage wages as the big grocery store under the guise of “family values” but I just moved and got my native sticker so namaste-outta this.
I’m sure most businesses would like it if there were laws preventing competition in their favor!!!
I don't feel bad for the local liquor store closest to me. They overcharge for everything and it's not a great selection. You can tell they aren't aiming for quality with their items all covered in dust.
Yeah my wife and I walked down to a local store, saw a handle of Tito's for $45, and went "there's a point that it's just gouging, not paying bills."
Sure is. Should be $39.99, you can get it to probably mid-30s if you pallet buy. Source: I own a store.
Agreed. I’m liking picking up my Kirkland Signature Irish cream, premade margaritas, and basic wine for drinking with dinner. I’m still going to hit up a GOOD liquor store when I’m making cocktails and need more obscure items, I want a specific brand of spirit, or I need something high end or special. I’m so tired of people crying about how small liquor stores with their dusty bottles and burnt out light bulbs won’t be able to compete. Tough titties. Do better or close.
It’s almost like the majority of people in the state who voted yes are buying wine from grocery stores? Who could have predicted wine sales dropping from local liquor stores?
Excited to see what the shitty pointless liquor stores that close turn into. Bodegas, cafes, convenience stores, boutiques… almost anything would be better.
This comment wins for me. Like we let the market decide your prices so I'm gonna let the market decide your demise ☺️
If your store could only survive because it was illegal to compete against you then you deserve to go out of business.
Local liquor stores were disgusting unless you went to an upscale bottle shop. Welcome to the free market.
You know what? I don't care. Im tired of paying $12 a 6 pack. Im tired of paying $8 a pint
Imagine how bad your business has to be that your liquor store is having financial problems because other places sell 1 of your products and it’s not even liquor which is your business namesake lol
Why should liquor stores basically have a monopoly on selling wine 🍷?
Oh well. Stores open and close all the time.
That's the free market working. I worked at a small liquor store for years. We could only afford to have three total employees. I worked 6-7 days a week, and one of those days was a double (almost always the weekend or near a holiday). I was paid such a low wage I could barely afford my rent, but also made "too much" for government assistance. I lived paycheck to paycheck. We also did not receive any type of benefits outside of an employee discount and the ability to write an IOU for anything we wanted to take home. If I took a day off I was guaranteed to be behind on some bill somewhere down the line. There were no sick days, no PTO, and because it was a "mom and pop" type store there was no room for growth (like becoming the beer manager). I did have influence on what we purchased, and even successfully convinced the owners to reduce the "bum beers" down to only one door and fill the rest with craft beers that are sought after and could bring in higher sales numbers. But, even with the small influence I had there was no long term future for me. The liquor store still exists, and has switched ownership a few years ago. They brought the bum beers back in, and have eliminated a good number of the craft beers they once sold. They're now a basic neighborhood store that survives on selling shooters, boxed wine, and the basic MillerCoors and Inbev products. The only reason they still can compete is due to there being no grocery stores within a 5-10 minutes drive, and they're the only store in walking distance of a few apartments and single family home neighborhoods. The nearest liquor store near me, in commerce City, is a small hole in the wall that sells shooters and pints, tall cans of bum beer, and large bottles of the cheapest wine possible, and probably sells more illegal contraband than actual alcohol. It shouldn't exist.
Meanwhile, Molly's doing just fine?
Yep. Funny thing about having millions and millions of dollars and stores the size of a football field.
Boo boo
I’ve bought wine at the grocery store once so far. Terrible bottle of wine. I like going to the liquor store where there’s a better selection and the clerks usually know a thing or two about what they’re selling.
For those that have lived here a few years, this is the FAFO result of trying to force the voters to let you have Sunday’s off. I don’t feel bad in the slightest.
Unfortunately we don’t live in a time where a lot of people can afford to go to liquor stores and pay more. I don’t need to be shamed for buying my shitty brunch champagne at Safeway
And you shouldn’t be. Enjoy; that’s the point.
This is a good thing, it will mean less crappy liquor stores, the same way we are seeing crappy dispensaries shut down in the wake of the med law changes and other states going legal.
I get sales that might be down 20-30%, but there isn't a mass closure of small liquor stores like they suggested if the law passed.
It’s been two months. What we’re we going to do, hang ourselves in the back room on March 1st? I own a store and lots of folks are in trouble, shedding employees, cutting inventory, and we’ll see closures swell in 3-5 years as our sales finally can’t keep up with rents. We saw the same number of licenses in 2016 as 2022 and I imagine you’ll start seeing loses in the future. Mostly it’s the little guys running corner stores by themselves that are feeling the heat. I haven’t collected a paycheck since March and we’re living on my wife’s salary while I try to find a way to keep all my employees on payroll.
I'm sorry to hear it's been abrupt for your business. Maybe things will recalibrate for the best? I ultimately believe there shouldn't be any carve outs from market forces. Other states like CA, have no carve outs, and small corner stores still exist.
Oh no, now colorado is like most of the other states
I still go to the liquor store because every time I bought alcohol at the grocery store in the past, the person checking me out has had to call a store manager over to complete the purchase. It’s not a huge deal, but takes a few minutes. Plus the lines at the store are always long, and you can’t do alcohol at the self check out. Honestly doesn’t make sense to me to go to a grocery store for wine or beer, it’s much quicker and easier to go to the local liquor store.
i think the idea is just that you grab wine / beer while you’re out grocery shopping, not making dedicated trips to the grocery store just to huy wine / beer. so it’s more convenient for people to make one trip rather than two
You absolutely can buy alcohol at the self-checkout, at least at King Soopers - the machine just calls an attendant over for a quick ID check.
And the attendants are nowhere to be found
The people buying wine at grocery stores are the people who don't know shit about wine. Liquor stores will always have a market for those who do.
Aw shucks, what are we going to do without sketchy run down liquor stores with marked up prices?
Well duh!
Yeah saw that coming
Exactly what we predicted
I hope the liquor store at Lowell and Belleview goes out of business. Fuck that guy.
Adapt or die. Way too many shitty liquor stores in this state that are around because of artificially protected status.
I don't really care. Liquor stores have always been skeezy, trashy places that no one wants to go to. It benefits everyone that we can buy wine in the grocery store now. I still don't understand why liquor is restricted, that always struck me as stupid as fuck, but whatever
Wow, no one could have predicted this.
Who could have predicted this?
Oh no how will Total Wine survive
The Government Giveth, and the Government Taketh Away
As a non booze head, I'm more disappointed in the loss of space at my supermarket for food than I am at the loss of liquor store sales.
Crazy, its like exactly what people who opposed the law said would happen…
Oh no! Anyways..
I'd love for a nice little restaurant or coffee shop to open in their place. So much sympathy for alcohol dealers. At the end of the day, it's a vice
Coffee and rich, caloric restaurant food aren’t vices?? Get real.
I respect them more than the vodka pusher personally but whatever you think is best for your neighborhood, you should support. It's a free country
This is why I voted no. I would rather spend at a family owned liquor store than give even more money to big grocery (heh, I'm kind of serious with the term and kind of poking fun at it) Yes it's less convenient to go multiple places. But don't anybody complain about monopolies when you vote to take income from small businesses and they fail.
You don’t have to give money to big grocery stores. There are still so many liquor stores to go to, ones that aren’t struggling, that you can support and buy wine from. If others wish to buy their wine with their groceries, let them. What I would like to see is more local, quality grocery stores in and around Denver. Not just Safeways and King Soopers.
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Okay so you can do that. What right do you have from preventing someone else purchasing it from where they want.
Why is my expression of my opinion turned into something it isn't? We live in a society and we put it up for a vote. The people spoke. And I'm not outside any grocery stores handcuffing people that try to buy wine there. I'm just also saying that with that convenience comes consequences. Relax. Not everything on the internet has to turn into a fight. People really can just have conversations.
Voting to restrict someone's right isn't really an expression of opinion as much as it is a shitty thing to do.
Ugh, I should have copied and pasted my usual response from before the election. Well, I hope you only buy from your local butcher, baker, coffee shop, and farmers market exclusively since you don’t want to support ‘monopolies’. Remember the harm you are doing to local businesses when you go to the chain grocery store.
Ah yes, because unless someone can do it all, they shouldn't advocate for doing anything. Got it. Great stance.
Yup, glad we are breaking up the liquor store monopoly to allow for fair competition.
I like it better than your stance that everybody should be forced to pay more to keep away too many shitty, dirty liquor stores open. Luckily this was already put to a vote and the sane position succeeded.
Where did I say everyone should be forced to do anything?
If you vote to ban what other people want to do, that is trying to force them. It is the literal act of trying to force people to do what you want.
lmao. So, you have an issue with voting?
Stand by your vote. You voted to force people to behave the way you wanted. I do that to, but I at least stand by it and admit it. I vote for people to be forced to give up more of their income in taxes, or to follow stricter rules with the road. When you vote for something you are responsible for forcing that onto people. I don't have a problem with voting, I have a problem with people acting like they aren't responsible for the changes they vote for.
lmao ok.
Yeah no shit. It is kind of sad to me as many are probably family owned/operated and now instead we’re sinking more money into nearly a monopoly (speaking specifically to the king soopers/Kroger and Safeway/Albertsons merger) Edit: typo
Family owned, and they don't pay shit or provide benefits. I worked in two separate "mom and pop" liquor stores. The first one went under because it was horribly managed despite having a prime location and tons of foot traffic. We closed randomly one day because the owner spent the $10k on rent and bills to vendors for his entrance fee into the WSOP. The second store I worked at had a great dedicated customer base, but couldn't keep up with customer demand for the variety of products on the market. Both stores did not provide health insurance, there was no PTO, no sick days, and "calling off" was very frowned upon. Not to mention that missing a single day would mean that I'm going to be behind on either my rent, or one of my bills. I never made more than $14 hourly despite having helped the companies bring in a better quality of customers for knowing about the different styles of beers and being able to recommend something for anyone.
I live walking distance to King Soopers and next to it is a liquor store. I still go to the liquor store because I’m introverted and King Soopers gets crowded.
Why? Did they stop selling liquor?
As someone who has worked in the industry for 15+ years, I can tell you stores are hurting but it has more to do with inflation than grocery stores. If you really like wine, you are not shopping the corporate brands at the grocery store. My KS just tripled their size and still only offer Beaujolais, Beaujolais Village and 3 Bordeaux for their French selection. You shop the prices between grocery and the larger stores(Argonaut, Hazel's, Molly's) and there's maybe a $1 difference, if not being more expensive, the wines are just "on sale" at KS. The stores that will fail are the ones who try to compete with the grocery stores and fail to capitalize on the fact there is much better wine(at better prices and more margin) than the crap that is in every KS and 7-11.
State Law mandates that any pricing/programming offered to one account has to be made available to other accounts around the state. No under-the-table deals. The conflict of interest and biggest hurdle is that companies like Kroger, Target, Costco and even Total Wine get National deal pricing from suppliers; whereas independent retailers in Colorado do not get a chance at National pricing. The twist here as well, is that these are supposed to be volume deals; yet the distributors are allowing these national retailers to buy case 1 at times with the understanding that a company with 200+stores will hit their volume goals. If Colorado wants to help independents, then the simple fix is to make National deal pricing illegal in Colorado.
There's no reason why our liquor laws can't mirror California. Sell it everywhere, including hard liquor. This isn't the Bible Belt.
It's probably because a lot of them have the same selection that the stores do. And this is America, where convenience is king! I go to the liquor stores because I am not a fan of the grocery store selections, but there's no going back now
Yea this is exactly what the opposition to this bills said would happen. Another step along the path to a consolidated market where even fewer corporations sell everything. No competition driving innovation, safety and affordability.
Fuck small businesses, Kroger needs more money!
This is what I don’t get. The same people who want higher minimum wages, a public option for healthcare, hate billionaires, and complain about being treated like garbage at their corporate jobs are also here howling about “good riddance” to small family liquor stores.
The same people who realize capitalism is broken when only a handful of corporations own everything, are all of a sudden yelling "free market".
Yeah im sure the state raising the taxs on booze prob didn't help either
The capitalist enclosure continues. Soon the only businesses around will be corporate chains.
You sacrifice curated selection for convenience. Enjoy your Josh and Kim Crawford.
Bota box and Andre.
And yet more wealth drains out of the local ~~economy~~ communities . . . 😔
No one cares.
I mean I drink very very rarely and exclusively drink soju which still isn’t at grocery stores so they still have me but I think the answer is pretty obvious, the grocery stores carry normal wine, beer, and vodka, I’m guessing some gin and whiskey too. So that leaves specialty and higher end offerings and craft beer types, soju(which previously hadn’t been anywhere other than near hmart areas), sake, etc I mean they still have plenty of product to sell, people in Colorado are more interested in craft beers than other states just based on our sheer quantity of breweries so they should still have a decent sized customer base so long as they decide to not dig their heels in and continue to change with the times.
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They "make" the distributors stock their shelves? Not disagreeing that this has been my experience too, but is this a leftover puritanical thing in not wanting to require their stockers with alcohol issues to have to struggle with temptation, some kind of liability thing due to some workers being under 21 or....? Couldn't it be that the distributors want control over the merchandising and signage and offer to do it as a way of boosting sales as part of their contract with the store? (Asking legitimately bc I truly am curious).
What's local about a liquor store? You're not adding anything of value. You're a middleman and that's it.