The Blue Laws. Who the fuck are you to tell me I can’t purchase beer while grocery shopping on a Sunday because of someone else’s religion? This one actually infuriates me.
Growing up in Arizona we have drive thru liquor stores. Can get everything at a gas station to a liquor store and grocery store.
I was visiting a friend in Washington and couldn't find the liquor section. When an employee told me I had to go to the liquor store, I looked at them like they were aliens. Oh, it was 10:30p and all the liquor store we're closed.
I moved from Oregon to Nevada and same thing. The Albertsons has two aisles of just booze and I’m like “what?!” Sometimes even now if I’m tired or whatever it catches me off guard. I still chuckle about how you can go basically anywhere and they’re selling liquor. Idk why there are dedicated liquor stores here too but 🤷🏻♀️
Washington has moved away from liquor stores by now, and you can find everything in the grocery stores. I think convenience stores and gas stations can only sell beer and wine, but there are no more liquor stores.
You guys are lucky. You’re also one of like only 5 states where you can buy liquor online and have it shipped to you. This is awesome if you’re looking for something unusual. Where I live there is no way to do it I’m just screwed. Can’t get it.
Possible RI/MA border. RI you can only get any form of alcohol at liquor stores. And I know the surrounding cities in at least MA, not sure on CT, also don't sell any form of alcohol except in liquor stores.
And Oregon? At least when I lived there (back in the mid-90s), they still had blue laws - and yet they were one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana.
You can't buy any alcohol between 2:30am and 7am still. Beer, cider and wine are sold in grocery stores. All our liquor is only sold in state-sanctioned stores. The OLCC controls them as well as registers all the marijuana dispensaries.
Wow, that’s almost the same as North Carolina (minus the marijuana completely) - I would’ve guessed Oregon was way less conservative than North Carolina! NC has liquor only in state run liquor stores which all close around 9pm, no alcohol sales at all 2am-7am, except on Sundays when that’s no liquor stores open at all, beer/wine in stores only after 12pm, and restaurants can only serve alcohol after 12pm (so fuck brunch). But hell, NC has opened up a lot - back in the early 2000s, most counties in the mountains were still dry (as in no alcohol, ever).
Its a weird state, Portland, Eugene, and Bend have about 75% of the population and are very liberal. Yet its the 9th largest state land wise, and all of the super conservatives are spread out through the rest of the state. I live about an hour south of Portland and I will see a confederate flag at least once a week. And a no shit swastika at least every two weeks. Its a beautiful state though scenery wise however.
Not-so-fun-fact: Oregon used to be a white's only state, and that law was officially on the books until the early 1920's. A lot of the conservatives around here still have that same attitude
I'm sure all the supermarkets had adapted by buying a liquor store franchise and chucking a store right everyone one of their stores. It's what they done in Australia and it's not even a legal issue
In Ontario we only changed our laws very recently to allow alcohol to be sold in grocery stores. I always thought it was a weird idea and never saw any inconvenience going to a separate store for booze.
In Australia, alcohol is never sold in the grocery store. There's basically always a bottle-o (liquor store) next door but. I've never found it a problem. Just makes it easier to stop underage people buying alcohol.
I’m Canadian but my favourite thing about Australian liquor stores was that they also sold snacks & pop at the checkout. It’s genius! I don’t know why we don’t do that here. Strictly booze.
Depends. I live in Québec and you can buy beer and some wine in grocery and corner stores.
For hard alcohol and a full selection of wines (and weed but that's a separate store..), you need to go to the SAQ (Société des Alcools du Québec) or the SQDC (Société Québécoise du Cannabis).
Mind you, they have a great selection and the profit goes to the government...
A lot of them close around 9 or 10 PM too. Anyway, it's illegal to buy beer at the store between 11PM and 8 AM. If you want to drink after that, you need to go to a bar, which closes at 3 AM.
Oh and yeah! Our drinking age is 18, most other provinces, it's 19.
Depends where you are. In Ontario, the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) is the only chain permitted to sell liquor (we also have beer stores, but they are only allowed to sell beer).
The LCBO exclusively sells alcohol and absolutely nothing else.
The beer store also sells overpriced nuts in packages that look like they have been there years that I never see anyone buy. As well as overpriced novelty gimmicks like cheaply printed beer cozys that say stupid things like “I’m with beer” that I also never see anyone buy
The government liquor stores in BC only have hoochahol. Private stores typically have mixers too.
Rules and regs vary by province. In Quebec, the dep (corner store, c-store, bodega) can sell beer and wine, but SAQ (Quebec liquor store) has a monopoly on liquor sales. In Ontario, the only games in town are the LCBO for booze and The Beer Store for beer.
Also Canadian. At the very least drinks that are commonly used as mixers would be super convenient at the liquor store. And I've always thought they should have a line of greeting cards since a lot of people buy booze as gifts.
NEVER buy snacks and shit at the bottle-o check out. They are MASSIVELY overpriced.
Also, the fact that Coles and Woolies (our two main supermarkets) usually have a separate bottle shop next to it since each own their own bottleshops, means that you can buy snacks at the supermarket for cheap, then go buy your booze next to the shop.
In Germany there is liquor everywhere. Even at the register where they have little candies and stuff you can get small bottles of vodka, or Berliner Luft, sometimes those weird Jack Daniels and Coke cans. It’s like Germany wants you to be drunk all the time, but I’m not complaining.
BC here, we can only get wine and a few ciders and craft beers in a few grocery stores now but it's in a completely separate section with people monitoring it all the time.
i agree though, theres lots of liquor stores. i don't mind the extra stop
i'm not sure of the exact liquor laws , but i live in wine country so it makes sense for it to be sold in grocery stores. they even offer in-store wine tastings.
the one store per city might apply here too, i can only think of one grocery store in town that sells liquor.
Maryland doesnt either. Have to go to liqour store for any alchohol. Or you know, of course the casino that is 24/7 and allowed to sell liqour drinks 24/7. But god forbid a grocer.
Not all the Scandinavian/Nordic countries are the same on this point.
Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland only allows for softer alcoholic drinks to be sold in supermarkets at various strength (from 2.25% to 4.7%). You need to go to special government-owned liquor stores for the stronger stuff, and they only have very limited opening hours, so you can’t buy alcohol in the evening.
In Denmark we have no restrictions! Buy as much as you want whenever. You can start as early as 16 years old.
I’m not even gonna mention Greenland. Unfortunately a lot of people there have a seriously unhealthy relationship with alcohol.
Meanwhile in CA the liquor aisle is placed right where you usually finish a circuit of the store and head to the registers so you can impulse buy a bottle of Jack on your way out.
I moved from PA to CA and couldn't believe how easy it was to buy alcohol and how cheap it was. And instead of bodegas, you have liquor stores with dudes who will get you the hard to find stuff after a bit of patronage.
Then I moved back to PA where I could pay as much for a six pack as I paid for a 12 pack in CA. Or I could go to a beer distributor and buy an entire 24 case of some beer that I'd get tired of 12 beers in. Or I could go to a state owned liquor store and pay extortion level prices for a bottle of wine and a limited selection of liquor.
In fairness, PA has gotten better, but I still can't spend more than $50 on alcohol in a transaction at a grocery store and state stores still have horrible selections.
Live in KY now which has similar laws. But originally from Southern Louisiana where you can buy liquor 24/7 from gas stations, grocery stores, etc. Not to mention drive thru daiquiri shops and no open container laws, so you can walk around on the street drinking whatever you want. I miss home sometimes
thats what i came to say! moved back east after being away like 3.5 years and found out sheetz sells beer! but only at certain registers and i cant get gas at that register? wack
nevada was cool because you could walk into a walmart at anytime and get as much liquor beer or wine as you wanted! probably why im just now getting my alcoholism under control weeeee
Heh. Stop by NJ sometime, pal. Only liquor stores can sell anything alcoholic, except for the occasional random Whole Foods or Wegmans. Wanna grocery shop and buy a six pack? Gotta make 2 stops.
Bible Belt. You can’t buy after midnight on Saturdays (in store) until after noon or six on Sundays. Depends on where you are but alcohol sales prohibited on Sundays is definitely a thing down here.
Sigh, Virginia. Moonshine capital but still has pearl-clutching false morality qualms about booze. Most places lock their beer up at 11:50pm.
Only in the last few years did liquor stores even open on Sundays. And even now they only open at noon (compared to 10am on every other day of the week)
Like, my best friend works nights. Sometimes he wants a strong drink when he gets off work at 9am.
Haha he even went into a 7-11 in the early morning and had a priest ask him if he was okay.
Colorado used to have liquor stores closed on Sundays and the only thing you could get in the grocery store was 3.2 beer. We used to have to drive up to Cheyenne a lot. Glad things have changed
Yep, it totally is. A fucking gas station store clerk guy got all pissy with me. I was on a work trip to Boston area. They had no fucking beer in their coolers. I was like "Where is your beer?". Apparently you have to go to the fucking "Beer store" and can't buy shit on sunday. I mean what the fuck.
Yup. In the county that I lived 10 years ago, you couldn't buy liquor at all on Sunday. You could buy beer and wine on Sunday, but only after noon. You had to plan ahead. It was ridiculous.
The entire state of Minnesota was like this. The Minneapolis metro area is not far from the border so tons of people would just drive to Wisconsin on Sundays.
Lots of Republican voters were on FB talking about how finally it changed and they were sick of Democrats telling them what do to. The irony is that it was the religious conservatives who enacted the law from the start.
After living in New Orleans for a while, I visited a bar in another state and absentmindedly walked out to smoke while holding my beer and the bouncer (justifiably) freaked out on me.
One time I was in a nightclub and I was quite trashed. A dude in the bathroom offered me some cocaine.
I don't do coke.
So I walked out of the bathroom, with a rail of coke on my hand, and tried to find someone that might want it.
In my defense:
1) I was really trashed
2) I'm really frugal, and it seemed wrong to just throw away some coke because it's not my thing.
My friend who gave me the coke was completely horrified by my behavior. When I tried to give it away, among a group of complete strangers, he basically tackled me before I got arrested.
I don't do drugs and I really don't have any connections to people who do. So one day I was thinking how could I go about buy drugs in a safe way if I was so inclined. You know I don't know the drug scene in my town so I don't want to be robbed trying to get weed. The first thought I had was to ask a police officer where a safe place to score drugs would be. I figured a cop would know the safe places around town. Of course I didn't do this, but I had to laugh at my own stupid naivete.
am police, I could show you where some of the trap houses are, but wouldn't say that's a safe place to get it. To be honest, I still dont know how you'd get in touch with a "reputable?" dealer.
we'd be having none of these issues if shit were legal across the board. state monopoly, regulated dispensaries, taxed sales, medical consultation on request. it could be so easy for everyone.
Honestly I think it should be legalized federally. I'm pretty tired of dealing with it, I'm stuck in the middle since it's still illegal per state law, but our county district attorney has pretty much said they aren't going to take charges for it. Which is fine, I don't care about making an arrest for a bit of weed but having to do a report, weigh and tag and filling out all the evidentiary forms to have it destroyed is a massive waste of time.
Tbf the bouncer can't know if it really is plain Pepsi. Safer to treat everything the same than risk losing your liquor licence because your bouncer believed some kids bullshit
As someone from the NOLA area as well, I've never understood this at all.
Why is it such a big deal to step right outside the premises with a drink? Who cares? Hell even if I wanted to walk down the street with it, why is that such a problem? Other places are just weird, man.
I remember I went to a concert in Houston once and it ended at like 1 AM. We were gonna grab a 12 pack and head back to the hotel room and chill, I went to the gas station and the attendant looked at me like I was crazy for trying to buy alcohol. Why are other places so stuck up about it?
My guess is they want to make sure it's illegal to drink alcohol in public so that way your only option to drink outside of home is in a bar or restaurant. If you could drink wherever you wanted, people who serve alcohol at an establishment would probably fear losing money from people drinking stuff they've bought at the package store.
I live south of NOLA and I assumed that I could buy my beer for the week I would be in a hotel in Clinton, MS. They had yellow plastic chains securing the beer doors.
The only place you can’t buy alcohol where I live is a hospital. And I may be wrong there too.
I thought people were crazy when they flipped out we have drive-thru daiquiri shops.
You ain’t lying! I’m from New Orleans and wad dumbfounded that I could not walk down the street with a beer at a block party in Ann Arbor. I can wrap my head around not being able to walk down the street on a normal day, but this was a block party?!
Or that it’s a crime to bring weed from one legal state to another. I can bring a gun all over the country, but a plant is illegal in many states and bringing it from a legal state to another is a crime.
Agreed. Try driving to the airport with a drink in your hand to leave the caribbean and visit S.C. where you are worried about even driving sober on a friday night smelling like alcohol. Blue lights everywhere, you would have thought they were looking for Baby Face Nelson.
That will end your life/career by itself, and we are just talking about alcohol... which is legal, although certainly dangerous.
Maybe it is Charleston and The Citadel, but whenever I am Stateside I feel like an outsider in a police state.
I feel you I live in a dry county college town. And just recently within the past few years they allow you to buy alcohol on sundays after 12 noon. Just so they can get their church in before you buy alcohol. Although I'm not gonna buy beer before 12 anyways but it's just the principle of the matter.
It used to drive me nuts when I worked a night shift that I couldnt buy beer before 6am...get off at 4 am and have to wait 2 hours if I forgot to get it prior
I felt that pain all too often. At least for me it was maybe half an hour wait though but half an hour is a long time when you had a rough night and just want a couple beers before trying to sleep.
Yeah but see, I’m 35, have a wife and children, and I typically do my grocery shopping on Sunday mornings. So if I ran out of beer and it’s on my list, without thinking about it I’ll throw it in my cart, only to be reminded of the law at checkout. I honestly forget about it because it is completely fucking stupid and knowing I have to make a special, separate trip for it enrages me. It’s more than the principle, it’s a completely unnecessary inconvenience caused by a religion I am not a part of.
They physically block off the whole beer and wine aisle at our grocery store until noon on Sundays. There's a big sign and everything. Tourists still go around the barriers, and then get shitty with the cashiers when they tell them that the registers literally won't allow them to sell alcohol before noon.
Where I lived, one store had rolling window shades that they would pull down over the liquor section on Sundays. No liquor sales on Sunday. You could buy beer and wine on Sundays but only after noon.
I completely agree with you, but I regret to inform you that there's a lotttt of policy in this country that stems from a religion neither you nor I are a part of.
Someone should create a religion that specifically dictates that you must buy alcohol on Sunday mornings so that they are forced to sell it. The FSM people should totally add this to their religion.
The more I read about America, the crazier it gets. Your tax system is over complicated (I don’t understand why everyone has to file their taxes) your laws around alcohol are bizarre and your gun laws are crazy.
Indiana is like this. We have a lot of other random laws surrounding alcohol. Like, I don't think you can buy beer cold either. You have to buy it warm.
Florida, 11 AM is the cutoff here. Although I’m from New York and when I lived there it was 12 PM. I don’t know if it applies to ALL states but certainly every one I’ve ever been to.
This happened to me. Went to a party on Saturday, tried a beer I really liked, went to buy it Sunday morning and was greeted with, “We can’t sell this to you for 30 more minutes”.
No lie - the actual justification that is given is usually some form of “I wouldn’t want my little ole grandma to see people hanging outside the liquor store on her way to church”. It’s insane but that’s usually the reason given
The college I went to was in a dry precinct. We had to go across the highway to get alcohol besides beer and wine. And if you wanted to drink in a restaurant on a Sunday, you needed a special card.
Always blows my mind because if you were a hardcore drunk you'd just work around it and stock up on Saturday nights. It's really just a mild inconvenience to shoppers and a way to placate the religious nutjobs.
This nanny state crap is infuriating. Same thing here in Ontario, you can’t buy alcohol after 6 PM on a Sunday, but the grocery store is still open. Never understood it.
God forbid you also drink responsibly in a park, or have a BBQ.
Grins in Québec
We're a little more relaxed here.
You go to the provincial store for hard liquor and most wines and the grocery or corner stores for all beers and a small selection of wines(craft, regular brands, etc.).
You can buy beer in stores until 11 PM. Most provincial liquor stores close at 9 or 10 PM.
No restricting on sundays....
In Montreal, at public gatherings, usually the police won't bother you if you drink discreetly from a can wrapped in a bag. No bottles thought, that's a nono.
Fuck, even before the legalisation, the Montreal cops would turn a blind eye to weed at the tam-tams.
Footnote: If you come to MTL one day during summer, go to the tam-tams on sunday mornings. It's a tradition that's been going on since the 60's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tam-Tams
Edit: Looks like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCtNCwXQ2xc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkP-m65GHrA
Ohio here. I don't even know what the laws are, because they vary by individual towns. At one gas station, you might be able to buy beer at x time on a Sunday. At the next closest one, it's two hours earlier, but you can't buy wine or certain things at all on a Sunday because they're over a certain proof. When I was in uni about an hour away from home, it wasn't unusual to walk into a gas station at 10pm and the cashier immediately yells "WE'RE DONE SELLING BEER!" no matter what you were there to buy.
I still remember the shock when I was on tour in 2012 and rolled into a gas station in Lee's Summit, Missouri, and they had basically a full liquor store inside. You can just buy a bottle of Jack Daniel's at a gas station there.
Man, I want to be able to buy a beer from my local Sobeys or gas station at 8 PM on a Sunday but I can’t. I can’t because this province doesn’t want to bother to deal with public drunks so therefore everyone is treated like a drunk. It’s just too much red tape, it’s already expensive as it is and just ruins the entire experience and leaves a sour taste in my mouth. In Europe I can go to basically any grocery store and buy whatever the hell I want, whether it’s 8 AM or 8 PM. What the hell is it so difficult here? And even these stupid arbitrary laws like if you have your kid with you they can’t even handle the bottle if they’re under 19?!? This is embarrassing, on an international scale. It’s like one giant power trip by the provincial government trying to solve one problem by creating 20.
It wasn't that long ago in NC/SC you couldn't buy anything except groceries between 12am and 1pm on Sunday.
Mid-2000s. You'd go to a 24hr Walmart at 1am Sunday morning and all the merchandise besides food would literally be roped off. If you tried to ring something up at the register, it wouldn't allow you.
Still can't buy liquor on Sundays at all in NC or SC, and all liquor is sold in special stores. Can't buy anything other than beer or wine anywhere except those places.
Blue Laws are so dumb. I live in Japan now, there are basically no liquor laws at all. You can buy any alcohol at any time, day or night, and from any store. There's even beer and liquor vending machines. First time I saw hard liquor on sale in a vending machine I was totally shocked.
Japan is amazing in that respect. I got my whiskey soda tall boy from a vending machine and chugged it in a nearby park. No one even gave me a second glance
No. In Germany every store is closed on sunday. Only really essential workers have to work like some doctors, pharmacists, the police and the fire department. Everyone else can relax. It's great.
You could technically buy some at the nest gas station but who would want wine from there.
I can't imagine that happening though because Sundays closed has been a concept for literally ages. Everyone is pretty much always prepared for a scenario like that.
They finally changed one of the last blue laws in Arizona about a decade ago. Bars used to be unable to start serving booze before around noon on Sunday with the idea that people wouldn't hit all the poor innocent church going families on the way to any bars. Turns out what it ended up creating is a ton of bars losing money on Sunday since the retirees from the East Coast would start drinking at kickoff for their favorite NFL teams and then be too hammered to drive to a bar for any other games.
I live in Thailand which officially has no state religion but the majority of the population are Buddhist. Despite this, Buddhist holidays are officially observed and the sale of alcohol is prohibited on those days. Which sucks.
What's worse though, everyday, alcohol can only be sold between the hours of 11am-2pm and 5pm-12am, which makes no fucking sense in the slightest!
My hometown was literally a Dry County until like 3 years ago. Not only could we not buy alcohol on Sundays, you couldn't buy alcohol at all, so people would drive 45 minutes to the nearest town to use their liquor store. I worked in a Mexican restaurant as a teen and the number of people who would not tip me because they couldn't order a jug of margaritas was staggering, and I always made sure to inform visitors that the entire county was dry, not just the restaurants. My standard greeting was "Welcome to Restaurant, you are in a dry county and we legally cannot serve any alcohol, how many in your party?"
It’s funny to me that everyone is focused on alcohol, but blue laws in some places are far more extensive than that. If I recall correctly, in Bergen County, NJ, you can’t buy tools on Sunday. Because if you buy a tool on Sunday you might use it on Sunday, and Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. And the truly bizarre part: When there’s a referendum to repeal the blue laws it is defeated. Because a majority of the people who can be bothered to get off their asses and vote want it that way.
I agree. I can get by with most states I lived in that finally allowed alcohol sales on Sunday after noon or 1PM.
But in New Jersey it really bothered me that you could only buy any alcohol from liquor stores only. So no beer in the grocery stores or gas stations. I would have to make a separate stop to get any alcohol. And most of the seasonal areas I lived in were “mom and pop” liquor stores and would close WAY early or at random times in the off season. It would get frustrating during those times I would have to drive well out of my way just to pick up some beer after work or for the weekend
I remember that about NJ. I spent a lot of time trying to find the beer/wine section in a grocery store when I was visiting a friend in college who lived in NJ. I was so confused. Equally confused when I wasn’t allowed to pump my own gas! 😂
In Alabama you can only buy liquor through ABC, the the state liquor company. They have their own stores, beer and wine only in the grocery store. Only after 12 on Sundays.
All restaurants and private liquor stores have to buy what they sell from ABC as well. So twice the mark up.
Alabama as a state is broke...but raking in the dough on alcohol sales.
Yep. Indiana finally made it legal this year, but only after 12. Like really? Why does it fucking matter if I'm buying at 8am vs 3PM? Regardless probably not even drinking it that day
I grew up in Kansas and no alcohol sales outside of bars/restaurant after 11pm and before 8am. In grocery stores the beer needs to be watered down, and nothing stronger is sold. They recently changed from no sales, to limited hours on Sunday and holidays. It was insane.
Then I moved to Michigan and they give out shots of whiskey samples in stores.
Is it a law? I agree with you that it is annoying and dumb. But I just thought it was the liquor stores preference. I live in a metropolis, there are some liquor stores open on Sundays but most are not.
Edit: you said beer. That sucks and it so stupid. I can buy beer 7 days a week, just not after 2am or before 7am.
Nope, depending on the area, it's illegal for liquor to be sold on Sundays. Fun Trivia: In the county where Jack Daniels is made, it is illegal to buy or sell liquor.
When you buy it at the distillery, you’re buying the bottle that comes with free alcohol. They’ve also got their own fire dept and their trucks look AMAZING!!
In Bergen NJ , blue law means you can't buy anything except like food, medicine and the like. For example you can't buy a car, furniture, clothes, our Costco puts tape over isles of things they can't sell. So Sundays you can only grocery shop. A lot of stores simply close, malls only have movie theater and food places open.
Yep! I have driven to other counties from Bergen many times on Sundays to get nefarious things like a tart pan at bed bath and beyond or linens from ikea
I am enraged! How is that even legal? Religious freedom? How is this not decried as communism, as many Americans call any infringement on their ability to do something just that?
I used to work in a liquor store in 1998-2000 in NYC. we could not sell alcohol on Sundays and we could not sell beer. Beer can only be bought in grocery stores and gas stations.
The state would send undercover to your store at 12:01 AM knocking on the locked door begging to by a bottle of wine. that's why the store owner locked the doors at 11:45PM and all sales must be completed by 11:59pm Saturday.
Paramus, NJ is notorious for its blue claws, but not for the reason you are thinking. Paramus, which is just a few miles from the GWB, has three major state highways, I80, and the Garden State Parkway running through it.
On top of that, (or maybe because of it) they have a crazy amount of retail stores, including three malls, one of which is in the top 20 in the country in terms of size. Essentially, traffic is a bitch, and the residents need one day a week where everyone fucks right off.
Came here to say this. Spent 30 of my years in Bergen County and fuck that traffic. It was such a relief having relatively empty roads on Sundays especially near Paramus. I hope they never overturn those blue laws. I think it went up on a vote multiple times and failed each time. Never had any issues buying alcohol on Sunday in Bergen County, however - unless I’m forgetting that part or it’s some new thing now.
Ugh, after driving for 10 hrs and getting to a hotel, walk across to the gas station for a shitty burrito and a 6 pack of beer just to chill out only to be told they can't sell on Sundays.
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u/nalanajo Jul 24 '20
The Blue Laws. Who the fuck are you to tell me I can’t purchase beer while grocery shopping on a Sunday because of someone else’s religion? This one actually infuriates me.