Should Alcohol Be Sold In Grocery Stores?
January 16, 2009 by Susan Denny
This is the question facing Vail Valley Colorado at the moment. Here’s an article from the Vail Valley Times discussing the pros and cons.
VAIL VALLEY, Colorado — Liquor store owners in Colorado’s Vail Valley are gearing up to fight what they see as a legislative assault on their business.
A pair of legislators — Sen. Jennifer Veiga of Denver and Rep. Buffie McFadyen of Pueblo, both Democrats — has introduced a bill that would allow grocery stores to sell full-strength beer. Grocery and convenience stores can now sell only beer that has 3.2 percent alcohol by volume.
Liquor store owners and their state trade association last year fought a similar proposal by the grocery industry by accepting a bill that allows liquor stores to stay open on Sunday.
Grocery stores came back to the legislature this year complaining that having liquor stores open on Sunday has crippled their beer sales.
Jim Schrock, the general manager of Village Market, which has stores in Edwards, Telluride and Snowmass Village, said Tuesday he hadn’t heard about the bill. But, he said, he thinks it could be a good idea.
“It’s come up several times before,” Schrock said. “But I think it could be good for tourists and other customers.”
Schrock said people from out of state aren’t often aware of how Colorado liquor laws work, and selling full-strength beer would be a convenience for them.
Village Market in Edwards doesn’t sell beer, but the stores in Telluride and Snowmass Village do, and Schrock said he’d be interested in selling the full-strength product.
But one man’s convenience is another man’s really bad idea.
Mickey Werner is the manager of Alpine Wine & Spirits in the Vail City Market store. Peter Struve owns Mac’s Liquors in Gypsum. Both think the idea to put full-strength beer in grocery stores would be bad for their business, of course. But both also said the idea could be bad for the community.
“Alcohol is, for all intents and purposes, a controlled substance,” Werner said. “And liquor stores are subject to extreme regulation by the state.”
Werner said he worries that grocery store beer sales could lead to more people stealing, and more minors illegally buying.
“Imagine spring break in Vail,” Werner said. “It would open the door to chaos.”
And, Werner added, if a grocery store is caught selling to minors, it can stay open and sell food even if the beer coolers are empty. If a liquor store sells to an underage buyer, the entire store gets shut down.
“I think we have a higher responsibility,” Werner said.
In Gypsum, Struve said he’s worried about the future of his business if grocery stores are allowed to sell full-strength beer. Beer makes up most of the sales at Mac’s, and providing someone with the convenience of buying a six-pack while shopping for dinner would hurt, he said.
If full-strength beer does end up in grocery stores, Struve said he’s going to have to really concentrate on providing different products, in different sizes, for people who want something that isn’t available at the supermarket.
And, he said, his store has a couple of things grocery stores don’t.
“I’ll need great parking out front, and multiple registers operating so someone can get in and get out,” Struve said. “And I’ve got that.”
But, he added, “It’s really tough to be a mom-and-pop store these days.”
If it was up to me I’d keep liquor sales in the liquor stores where they can be more vigilant about not selling alcohol to under-age drinkers. Grocery stores are for food items only and alcohol should not be on display so that children grow up thinking that it’s quite normal to go to the store and buy food as well as alcohol.
Let’s not tempt our kids anymore than they already are.
What’s Xmas All About?
November 27, 2008 by Susan Denny
Xmas to me is joining the crowds to shop for gifts for the people I love, cooking a plum pudding and a Xmas cake and organizing the food for that special day. It’s about Xmas decorations, putting the tree up and singing along to Xmas carols.
It’s a day, when we as a family, all get together to eat, talk and laugh, and enjoy each other’s company. We reminisce over past years and the highs and lows of each year.
We remind ourselves that we have a great family and that they all want to share Xmas Day with us. I know of many families who are estranged from some of their family members, so I am grateful that my children and grandchildren love coming to our house.
It’s not only immediate family that we catch up with. I speak to my 3 brothers and their families, who all live some distance away from us, as well as my husband’s family. We catch up with friends we sometimes haven’t spoken to for over a year or more as well as our International friends.
So what is Xmas all about? To me it’s all about family and spending time with them, catching up with what’s been happening in their lives and making plans for the year to come. It’s also a time for reflection over the events of the past year so that we can look ahead to the New Year with anticipation.
Are You Prepared For Xmas?
October 27, 2008 by Susan Denny
I don’t know about you but I get very nervous when I see Xmas decorations in the shopping centres already and it’s not even November yet!
I haven’t even thought about Xmas shopping, but I know that I’ll be thrust into it before I know it. As for buying presents for my family, well that just gets harder every year. I mean, what do you get someone who has everything? I struggle with this every year and spend hours wandering around the shops hoping for some inspiration.
An idea I’ve come up with is to give them a bottle of the best flavoured rum in the world, which is supplied by Quittin’ Time in Australia, and adding a couple of my LED Cocktail and Martini Glasses. I could also make up a gift basket with a bottle of the flavoured rum and 6 LED Shot Glasses.
I’m in the business of having FUN so these 2 ideas will make great Xmas presents. As soon as the glasses light-up, the atmosphere will change. There’ll be plenty of smiles going around.
If you’re stuck for an ideal Xmas gift, why not consider my range of Fun LED Glassware as well as the flavoured rums from Quittin’ Time!