Area liquor stores have experienced some disruptions in sales due to COVID-19, but mostly, business is moving along well for them.
According to Kathy Broadhead, manager of 27th Avenue Package Store, sales for the first few weeks of the pandemic rivaled Christmas, usually her busiest time of the year.
“A couple of weeks ago, when (the stay-at-home orders) first came out, everybody thought we were going to close and limit hours,” she said. “We had two weeks that were busier than Christmas week. Since then, in the last week and a half, it’s tapered off drastically.
“Customers were buying in bulk those first two weeks. I think everybody thought that we were going to close, so now we are down to people getting a bottle here and a bottle there.”
Broadhead said the store has seen an overall profit increase even without any wholesale profit – or the selling of large quantities of alcohol to restaurants and bars – in April.
Jamie Farris, manager of Lincoln Road Package Store, said sales from direct consumers have increased, but the lack of wholesale business has left his store losing income by 10 percent. The store has roughly 25 percent of its business devoted to its wholesale side.
Farris said the COVID-19 pandemic was equivalent to a natural disaster but with no end date in sight.
“Just like everybody else, we didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “This is all uncharted waters for everybody. We are used to hurricanes and things like that where we see a bulk up in business leading to the event ... and then everybody is trying to pick up pieces after, so we have a timeline with that. With this, we don’t know any timeline of how long this will go on and when people will be comfortable going back and eating at restaurants and doing that.”
The store still has two wholesale clients who are able to sell alcoholic beverages in to-go formats.
“Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and Nellie’s Chicken and Daiquiris are those accounts ... they are in to-go cup zones,” said Farris. “Those guys are able to sell margaritas, daiquiris and to-go drinks. However, when you look at Crescent City Grill, Mahogany Bar, Walk-On’s or any of those restaurants, they can’t sell to-go liquor drinks. They can sell wine, but they can’t sell liquor drinks to go.”
Michael Harrington, owner of Midtown Wine & Spirits, said his business has increased 35-40 percent in March and April even without wholesale income.
“When the restaurants go back up, then sales should go back to normal because people will have another outlet where people can sit down in a bar and get a drink or go get a drink with their meal,” he said. “Obviously, since all the restaurants and bars are closed, they have to come to us to get their drink or bottle of wine.”
A growing frustration for each business has been dealing with Alcoholic Beverage Control, a division of the State Department of Revenue and the state’s wholesaler for alcohol.
The agency is tasked with regulating the legal and responsible dispensing of alcohol beverages, and liquor stores are required to place orders through the agency.
“According to the reps, it’s a problem all across the state,” said Harrington. “The ABC is so backed up with orders. Usually, the way it works is when you put an order in before 11 o’clock, it’ll come the next day. Now, they are a week and a half behind on orders. You just have to adapt and make bigger orders so that they last you a week and a half out until another comes in. It hasn’t made it easy by any means.”
Broadhead said the ABC has been forced to limit shipping as well.
“The state is also out of almost 500 products,” she said. “They have limited our shipping, and so we can only order 100 cases a day. They are backed up by 7,000 cases. We are just out of a lot of stuff. Normally, your average customer will find something comparable ... but not always.”
