Why don't they sell hard liquor in grocery stores in Virginia?
On a recent trip to Washington D.C. we stayed in Arlington, Va. Near our hotel was a Costco store which we walked into. After looking for about ten minutes for a bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon I asked a clerk where their liquor was. She said it could only be purchased in state operated package stores. That was very inconvienient.
The two states I have recently lived in, Arizona and California sell liquor in grocery stores, big box stores like Costco, drug stores and privately run liquor stores. Why does Virginia make shopping for a party a two-stop event. Buy food in one one place and then drive to another for the booze.
2011-01-11T18:24:18Z
EDIT UPDATE: Beer gets people high, so what's the big deal about selling the beer and hard stuff in the same store? So far the answers have been very interesting. Thanks so far.
DON W2011-01-12T03:53:56Z
Favorite Answer
It's tradition, based on a puritanical ethic to minimize and control the use of "hard" alcohol. Virginia is an "ABC" state, like several others, where the sale of "hard" alcohol is fully controlled by the state, which handles the wholesale distribution and retail sale of it. So, to purchase a bottle of Jim Bean you need to go to the Virginia ABC store. The same people who set up that system decided that beer and wine weren't as much a "threat to the public good" and could be sold in a variety of local supermarkets and other stores.
For what it's worth, the current Virginia governor is advocating turning over the ABC stores to the private sector, meaning that Virginia, like New York and many other states, would have private liquor stores. Beer and wine would continue to be sold in supermarkets.
Again, there's no logical reason given our modern culture. It's a symbol of federalism--the states, rather than the federal government, regulate how alcohol is to be sold in their states. So, it varies between states. Look at it as something interesting to note as you travel around the country. Remember that there continue to be some "dry" counties in the US where you can't purchase alcohol at all!
This link will tell you more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage_control_state
RE: Why don't they sell hard liquor in grocery stores in Virginia? On a recent trip to Washington D.C. we stayed in Arlington, Va. Near our hotel was a Costco store which we walked into. After looking for about ten minutes for a bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon I asked a clerk where their liquor was. She said it could only be purchased in state operated package...
my guess would be cause the are in the bible belt as people call it in the south and allot of southern states have blues laws i live in south carolina and they can not sell beer and liqueur in the same store and you can not buy it on sundays here that is the way it is in the south the churches have allot of pull in south south carolina is just now making where you can shop on sundays at any time before it used to be you could shop till after 1:30 pm its the blue laws my best guess