Liquor stores, aprés le deluge (Denver, Fort Collins: sales, buying, bankrupt)

[Quietude]

So, have any liquor stores gone out of business yet because you can buy 5% beer in grocery stores?

[LHS79]

Originally Posted by Quietude

So, have any liquor stores gone out of business yet because you can buy 5% beer in grocery stores?

No way- but hopefully their beer prices are coming down!

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by LHS79

No way- but hopefully their beer prices are coming down!

I've been pretty cheerfully buying it for about $8.00 at KS. we'll have to see where things stabilize around, oh, Memorial Day - see if the grocery stores are just using teaser pricing now or if the whole market will come down to a lower price level.

[tanbark813]

The big grocery stores will be able to sustain the low prices so liquor stores will either have to bring their prices down or close up shop. They'll also have to focus on specialty items to stay open and compete. There will still be liquor stores around but not quite as many.

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by tanbark813

The big grocery stores will be able to sustain the low prices so liquor stores will either have to bring their prices down or close up shop. They'll also have to focus on specialty items to stay open and compete. There will still be liquor stores around but not quite as many.

I'll bet that no liquor stores go out of business in the coming year. (Those that might close for reasons unrelated to pricing/profit will just change hands, as always.) Bookmark this; see you around the holidays.

A few years back, CT went to Sunday sales (as did CO a while back, I understand). CT has alcohol sales only in licensed stores, with the number and location controlled by each town. Of course, Sunday sales are a blue law issue more than anything else, and New England still loves its blue laws, but pressure finally mounted to repeal the antique ban on Sunday sales.

It was the store owners who objected most loudly and vehemently, because having to stay open an extra day would bankrupt them, how the larger stores' discounts would kill all the small stores, yadda yadda yadda. Of course, nearly everyone in CT lives within a few miles of a state border and it was common to hit NY, MA or RI for booze, not only on Sunday but to stock up at much lower price and tax rates. (CT also has pricing floors for booze, meaning that half the stores charged around that minimum and the rest strategically overpriced certain goods.)

Long story short, I don't know of a single store that went out of business in the subsequent two years I was there. Most seemed to thrive, in fact. The twisted logic that they'd have six days' sales in seven days never proved out. It was all a matter of stores that wanted to keep their convenient, universal limits, which disfavored the consumer.

I understand it's a competitive, modest-margin business, but I'm not going to shed any tears or shop at excess prices to support what is still a highly protected business. If a store can't survive on a buck per sixpack less, it must be in a Mormon community.

[Sir Quotes A Lot]

Originally Posted by tanbark813

The big grocery stores will be able to sustain the low prices so liquor stores will either have to bring their prices down or close up shop. They'll also have to focus on specialty items to stay open and compete. There will still be liquor stores around but not quite as many.

The ones that survive will probably get smaller, too. Growing up in a state where liquor/beer was always legal in grocery stores, we never had huge liquor store emporiums like they have here. Liquor stores existed, but they were small boutique shops.

Once Costco/Sam's Club start selling, well then they're in big trouble. Can't wait to buy my first gallon of Kirkland Signature Single Malt Scotch for $29.99!

[tanbark813]

Originally Posted by Sir Quotes A Lot

The ones that survive will probably get smaller, too. Growing up in a state where liquor/beer was always legal in grocery stores, we never had huge liquor store emporiums like they have here. Liquor stores existed, but they were small boutique shops.

I think the huge liquor stores will do okay since their prices are already lower than the average liquor store.

Originally Posted by Sir Quotes A Lot

Once Costco/Sam's Club start selling, well then they're in big trouble. Can't wait to buy my first gallon of Kirkland Signature Single Malt Scotch for $29.99!

Definitely tough to beat Costco, especially their Kirkland liquors. I'm a big fan of the Kirkland spiced rum.

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by Sir Quotes A Lot

The ones that survive will probably get smaller, too. Growing up in a state where liquor/beer was always legal in grocery stores, we never had huge liquor store emporiums like they have here. Liquor stores existed, but they were small boutique shops.

Not sure where you're talking about, but in California you can buy anything from 3.2 beer to Everclear in nearly any store that sells food... along with plentiful liquor stores of all sizes from corner nook to vast warehouse. They all seem to get along and I don't recall any going out of business there, either.

Once Costco/Sam's Club start selling, well then they're in big trouble. Can't wait to buy my first gallon of Kirkland Signature Single Malt Scotch for $29.99!

Where does the new law say non-liquor stores can sell anything but beer?

[Sir Quotes A Lot]

Originally Posted by Quietude

Not sure where you're talking about, but in California you can buy anything from 3.2 beer to Everclear in nearly any store that sells food... along with plentiful liquor stores of all sizes from corner nook to vast warehouse. They all seem to get along and I don't recall any going out of business there, either.


Where does the new law say non-liquor stores can sell anything but beer?

https://www.coloradoan.com/story/new...laws/96154700/

So, what's actually different?

As of Jan. 1, not much has changed. But getting this boulder rolling is, by design, a slow-going process.

Entities can now own five drugstore liquor licenses, which allow licensees to sell liquor, wine and full-strength beer — provided they have a drugstore or pharmacy. That limit, in a landscape dominated by chain grocery-and-drugstores, may not mean much. There are five King Soopers locations in Fort Collins alone, and dozens more across the state.

Making it trickier, those grocers will need to make sure to buy out any alcohol licenses within 1,500 feet of their shops in order to add that license. (That extends to 3,000 feet in areas with populations of fewer than 10,000 people.) And in Fort Collins, liquor stores pop up next to grocery stores like, well, wine glasses next to fancy dinner plates.

Representatives for King Soopers did not return requests for comment from the Coloradoan about its plans. The number of those licenses allowed expands to eight in 2022, 13 in 2027 and 20 in 2032. Unlimited licenses may be issued starting in 2037.



But what about shops without drugstores?

Those drugstore licenses are just one of a myriad available in Colorado. Each has different rules.

Trader Joe's, which does not have a pharmacy, would need to apply for a liquor retail store license to sell its popular Two Buck Chuck and other wines. It would also be limited to two licenses statewide, where it currently has eight total stores. Its Denver location currently holds one retail liquor store license, according to the state Department of Revenue. Trader Joe's representative did not return requests for comment about its plans with the new law.

The limit for retail liquor licenses that can be held by a single entity increases to three in 2022 and four in 2027.

It would also be bound to the 1,500-foot rule and need to buy out existing alcohol licensees operating within that distance. That may put the Fort Collins location in a bind, as it has a neighboring liquor store.

[tanbark813]

Originally Posted by Quietude

Not sure where you're talking about, but in California you can buy anything from 3.2 beer to Everclear in nearly any store that sells food... along with plentiful liquor stores of all sizes from corner nook to vast warehouse. They all seem to get along and I don't recall any going out of business there, either.

CA doesn't have a liquor store on every corner and next to every grocery store like here. The price discrepancies aren't as big either. CO will probably end up with something similar but will lose some liquor stores along the way to get to that point.