Alcohol in Grocery Stores-Gas Stations

[Handbag Lady]

We were in Minnesota this weekend for the triathlon and our dd wanted us to pick up a bottle of wine at Walmart. We must have circled the store a few times and came out empty handed.

When we got to our dd's boyfriends parents house, they laughed at us and told us you could only get wine etc., at Liquor Stores. Leave it to Wisconsin to sell alcohol in almost every established grocery store, gas station, department stores etc. We will probably be like the country of Germany and have beer for sale at McDonalds in the near future.

So the question is, does your state allow alcohol in your grocery stores and gas stations.

California:

Yes, we can buy everything every place. We have liquor stores as well, but I can buy hard liquor at CVS if I wished to buy it there. The gas station sells it too.


ETA: Our booze hours are 6 am to 2 am. I can't figure out why they think four hours of not buying booze would do anything, but there you go. I CANNOT undertand the states that won't sell on Sundays. Not everyone goes to church.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

In Maine, you can buy beer/wine/liquor about anywhere - grocery, convenience store, Walmart, etc.

When I was younger (1970's), it was only sold in liquor stores though. I remember, too, when it start being sold in grocery stores (90's, maybe?), they had little curtains on the shelves because it couldn't be sold before noon on Sundays. (So you'd have like red velvet-y curtains pulled over the shelves. It was wierd.)

(As an aside- stores in Maine could be open on Sundays only since 1990. You still can't buy a car on Sunday.)

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Not totally true anymore! Our Giant Eagle has wine kiosk you can use and they also have a beer section. Most pizza shops around me sell beer..

Yeah, I've heard of the wine kiosks. Weird. And pizza and other order out places seem to count as "delis".

 

[mill4023]

In NC you can buy beer and wine at the grocery store but all hard liquor is available only at an ABC store.

I'm in NC also. I grew up in Oregon, which has the same rules.
So the idea of not being able to buy beer and wine in a grocery store is really bizarre to me.

I was in Boston a couple weeks ago for business and spent about 10 minutes walking around the grocery section at Target, wondering why I couldn't seem to find their beer.

 

[jen0610]

Texas sells beer and wine in grocery store and gas stations. Hard alcohol can only be purchased in a liquor store. No alcohol before 12 on Sunday and liquor stores are closed on Sunday.

In Nebraska they sell everything at the grocery stores and gas stations any day of the week.

Here in IN you can buy everything at the super market - beer, wine, liquor, if you have the correct permits to sell it. But there no sale of any alcohol on Sundays in the stores. You can order a drinks at a restraunt, but you can't buy a case of beer at the store.

Most of the gas stations around here I do see them selling beer, but we don't buy that much alcohol, so they could very well sell both wine and liquor and I have just never noticed. The beer, I do see, because they usually are adversiting it and there are cases of it stacked so that you trip over it as soon as you walk in.

 

[Coconut36]

Yes..you can buy liquor in grocery stores (all types), convenience stores (gas station), even Walgreens and CVS. Target and Walmart too (although the Target I was at mostly sold wine/beer). This is in Arizona.

 

[ohiomom28]

We can buy almost anything at both grocery and gas stations but liquor is diluted. If you want the real thing, you have to go to a state liquor store.

 

[SC Minnie]

In SC we can buy beer and wine at a grocery store, convenience store, gas station, even CVS and Walgreens. Hard liquer can only be bought at the ABC store (or red dot store as we called them growing up lol).

Most areas of SC you can't buy alcohol on Sunday unless the local area as passed a referendum. Where we live we can buy beer and wine at one store but the next one 2 miles away is in the county and not city limits and no alcohol sales on Sunday.

 

[MomofKatie]

I grew up near Atlanta, GA- we could buy beer and wine at the grocery store, but not on Sundays- the stores would keep the beer and wine section unlit and put up masking tape "x"s across the area.

I believe in our county, there was also a law that stores within so many feet of a school couldn't sell any alcohol. The grocery store across the street from our HS had no wine or beer at all. Liquor was available from privately owned liquor stores.

DH and I moved to FL after we were married, and were shocked to discover we could buy alcohol on Sundays there!

We lived in OH later and were fascinated by the "drive thru" liquor/beer places- and the fact we could buy lower proof liquor at the grocery stores. I never got used to putting vodka in the cart alongside the baby food, broccoli, and eggs.

Now we are in NC, where beer and wine can be sold practically anywhere, and on Sundays. Any liquor must be purchased at state run ABC stores.

 

[pooh4evr]

Here in the land of Anheuser Busch you can buy anything anytime, maybe not until after 12 on Sundays, but otherwise you can get beer, wine, liquor at the grocery, gas station, convenience store, even walgreens, and Walmart.
Also when I was in college there was a drive thru liquor store acroos the street from the dorms/greek town...you pulled in, (it was like going into a car wash) a worker came out asked what you wanted (the entire inside was stacked with everything a college kid needs of course!)they got you whatever it was, you paid and were on your way! - and that was in the Missouri Botheel(ish)- Southeast Missouri State.

 

[Zerosinthecloset]

Wasn't long ago here in NM you could go to a drive-up window for your liquorhol. Interesting concept for a state that has a chronic DWI problem. The drive-up windows are gone now, but DWI is still way out of hand.

 

[scrapquitler]

We were in Minnesota this weekend for the triathlon and our dd wanted us to pick up a bottle of wine at Walmart. We must have circled the store a few times and came out empty handed.

When we got to our dd's boyfriends parents house, they laughed at us and told us you could only get wine etc., at Liquor Stores. Leave it to Wisconsin to sell alcohol in almost every established grocery store, gas station, department stores etc. We will probably be like the country of Germany and have beer for sale at McDonalds in the near future.

So the question is, does your state allow alcohol in your grocery stores and gas stations.

Here in CT, you can only buy beer in the grocery stores and convenience stores. For wine or liquor, you have to go to the package stores. And you can only buy from 9am-9pm Mon-Sat. Sunday you can buy from (I think) 12noon-5pm (and that is new as of a couple months ago...Sunday sales were just legalized recently).

 

[FireDancer]

Wasn't long ago here in NM you could go to a drive-up window for your liquorhol. Interesting concept for a state that has a chronic DWI problem. The drive-up windows are gone now, but DWI is still way out of hand.

We have drive through locations here. They are more like convenience stores your car can go through, not restaurants, and they only sell sealed bottles/cans. I used to think it was kind of odd but then I realized that whether you get out of your car to buy the alcohol or go through a drive through doesn't really matter. If you want to buy alcohol and drink while driving you will.

 

[si-am]

I grew up near Atlanta, GA- we could buy beer and wine at the grocery store, but not on Sundays- the stores would keep the beer and wine section unlit and put up masking tape "x"s across the area.

I believe in our county, there was also a law that stores within so many feet of a school couldn't sell any alcohol. The grocery store across the street from our HS had no wine or beer at all. Liquor was available from privately owned liquor stores.

DH and I moved to FL after we were married, and were shocked to discover we could buy alcohol on Sundays there!

We lived in OH later and were fascinated by the "drive thru" liquor/beer places- and the fact we could buy lower proof liquor at the grocery stores. I never got used to putting vodka in the cart alongside the baby food, broccoli, and eggs.

Now we are in NC, where beer and wine can be sold practically anywhere, and on Sundays. Any liquor must be purchased at state run ABC stores.

Georgia allowed a vote on Sunday alcohol sales last year; it passed in most places. They're having a re-vote in my county this July. It's kind of weird. I can drive 2 miles and buy alcohol on Sundays in certain city limits. But because I live in an unincorporated place, I can't buy it in my neighborhood. Crazy!


That being said, in GA you can buy beer and wine in grocery stores, drugstores, convenience stores, etc. But liquor is liquor store only.

 

[Zerosinthecloset]

We have drive through locations here. They are more like convenience stores your car can go through, not restaurants, and they only sell sealed bottles/cans. I used to think it was kind of odd but then I realized that whether you get out of your car to buy the alcohol or go through a drive through doesn't really matter. If you want to buy alcohol and drink while driving you will.

It was really pretty wild here for a while. When I worked in Los Alamos it was interesting to see the lines of cars at the windows on Friday evening. They even sold glasses (plastic) with ice and orange juice and miniatures of vodka. Most people didn't live in LA, but had a 30-40 mile commute.

 

[Just People]

Having just come back from a California vacation it was so nice to be able to pick up a bottle of jack Daniels in CVS! Here in Virginia the morality police forces us to go to state run ABC Stores for the fun stuff. Stupid liquor laws don't make sense.

 

[Squirlz]

You can buy anywhere here in Michigan. Last time I was in Wisconsin I asked the bartender at the restaurant where the nearest party store was. He said "you mean like hats and balloons and stuff?"

 

[Casperina]

In Sweden there was low-alcohol beer in Burger King and other fast food restaurants and it was offered on the SAS flight along with wine and such.

Here in CO, alcohol is available at any time from anywhere!
Most grocery stores have a big selection, gas stations have small ones, mostly cheap booze, and the liquor stores are giant

 

[Kathi OD]

I lived in NJ my entire life, until I moved to FL three years ago. I'd visited FL numerous times before so I was aware that alcohol was sold everywhere, but it still took me awhile to adjust to being able to buy it in the middle of my grocery shopping and errands. In NJ, you can't even buy beer unless you go to a liquor store.

Also not quite true. While alcohol sales in grocery stores in NJ isn't all that widespread, it is and has been going on for a pretty long time. I can't remember a time when we couldn't buy beer, wine and alcohol at the grocery store on LBI ( used to be Beall's but now it's Murphy's), and I'm pushing 60.

It's also sold at Wegman's in Mount Laurel, but that only started in the past couple of years.

 

[Kathi OD]

Not totally true anymore! Our Giant Eagle has wine kiosk you can use and they also have a beer section. Most pizza shops around me sell beer.

I forget about it though and have never gotten wine there. I did pick up DH a 6pack once.

Supposedly, all the wine kiosks were pulled, or are in the process of being pulled.