Liquor Laws

Every state seems to have their own unique approach to alcohol sales. Growing up in the Northwest, I wasn't aware that some states allow hard alcohol to be sold in grocery stores until I was surprised to see a whole aisle of booze in a California Von's. When I first moved to DC, I spent a good 20 minutes wandering my neighborhood Safeway to find the non-existent beer section. Actually, I never really did figure our the rules there - some stores carried beer/wine, but others didn't. I think they required a special permit or something.

Here in Memphis, our local Kroger has a full refrigerator case of thoroughly unappealing beer choices. (I settled for Fat Tire for post-move-in refreshment.) But there is definitely no wine to be found. We only brought 2 bottles with us from Seattle and they are the good ones that we're saving for a nice dinner party. So today I finally made it over to the liquor store, the place where one must go for all wine and hard alcohol purchases. The store itself was huge and had a wide selection of overpriced mediocre wine. I mean, we're talking $12 for a bottle of Columbia Crest Two Vines that would be like $5 on sale at Safeway in Seattle. There were hardly any options under $10.

I guess I got spoiled living close to a Trader Joe's before...

I did eventually make a selection (Bacardi Pineapple Fusion, if you must know) and went to the register. The two employees asked if I'd found any wines I liked - when I came in, I had asked about the Pacific Northwest section. Not wanting to tell them that their prices were totally ridiculous, I said I was just checking our their selection because I recently moved from Washington. I told them I'd been surprised that grocery stores didn't sell wine here. I also mentioned the "Costco law" that allows regular stores to sell liquor now in WA. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say as this started a monologue by who I'm guessing was the owner about Memphis liquor laws. Here were his main complaints:

• A person can only own one liquor store
• Liquor stores must be located at least 2,000 feet away from all schools and churches
• Some people want to change the law to allow grocery stores to sell wine, which would negatively affect his business and all the other small business owners

I tried to explain that liquor stores in WA were previously government-run, so the changed law actually opened the industry up to new businesses. But I'm not sure he was listening to me then.

Tennessee liquor laws

US map of "wet" and "dry" counties

In conclusion, I don't know why this stores prices were so much higher than what I'm used to. Perhaps they have higher taxes on alcohol in TN. Or, maybe since there isn't very much competition in the alcohol market, the few stores that are open can jack up their prices. Is it time for me to get into the moonshine business??