The ability to buy alcohol from grocery stores is awesome

[Flight Simmer]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

I have lived in many different areas with many different laws but I was gobsmacked the first time I went to Canada and discovered that the *only* place you can buy packaged alcohol is in government-run "beer" stores. Weird.

20yrsinBranson

That is weird. Here I have about 10 bottle shops within a 5km radius, Including a big box alcohol shop, with another smaller one right next to it which replaced a 2 dollar store just last year! About 5 minute walk away is another one! The two major supermarkets (Coles and Woolworths) own their own alcohol retail chains and these are generally located right next to the supermarket, in many locations the bottle shop is physically part of the supermarket , but you have to pay separately for the booze.

In Australia, there are supermarket-owned, big box, and several chains of independent alcohol retailers. You can buy booze from about 8-9am to 11pm depending on the location, including Sundays. We also have drive-thru alcohol retailers and these are open till 11pm everyday of the week. All of these shops sell anything from soft drinks to Absinthe.

In Victoria, Aldi also sells alcohol and it is the only state in Australia where this is legal. In Shepparton, Victoria, I've seen two big box alcohol retailers across the road from each other, and this is a town of just 40,000 people

[tigre79]

AK doesn't allow alcohol sales in grocery or convenience stores. There are stores that are half convenience and half liquor stores, but they have separate entrances and checkouts (usually just on the other side of the central checkout stand). It's a little inconvenient to have to make a separate stop for beer or a bottle of wine to cook with, but it's not such a big deal. Having grown up in Texas, I still feel weird about going to the liquor store on a Sunday morning, though.