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futuresailors wrote:Yeah, NYC is getting old and tired. I can't even think of any 24 hour places anymore...

NYC's nothing like it used to be. I blame that stupid TV show with Sarah Jessica Parker & Kim Cattrall.

FUCKING HORSES AND WHORES.

But seriously, my two favourite diners (aka the two best french toastesses) were 24 hour. Now they're closed.

IA

Bars Close 2AM

Buying Brewski 12AM ..... I think it might be earlier on Sunday.

I have to admit, though, that I almost never enter bars and rarely drink alcohol.....not for any moral reasons....I've just mostly lost my taste for it. I will drink a decent microbrew with friends maybe once every two or three months.

When I was 20 or so I drank and drank and drank and then I drank more.

Warshington State,....bars close at 2am,....alcohol sales in stores (beer and wine) also at 2am (if the store is even open past midnight). State stores where you buy liquor close anywhere between 7 and 9 (depending on location,...I don't frequent liquor stores sooooo I'm not too familiar with the hours).

Alcohol sales resume at 6am.

A recent prop was passed to close state stores in Washington and allow Grocery Stores, big box stores and Warehouse Clubs (IE Costco) to begin selling liquor,...which takes the price control out of state hands (while also laying off close to 3,000 people) and puts it into the retailers hands. This sucks for small restaurants and bars who don't have the buying power of the bigger chains. My boss; who only stocks his bar with call brands and premium brands, is worried about a price increase and not being able to keep up.

^You work at a restaurant... which is a registered business, right?
Idk how it is in the US of A, but in Austria it is allowed and possible to buy the things you need to run your business directly from the suppliers of the store... so you just get a business confirmation and are able to buy the stuff you need at the suppliers of the big markets, meaning cheaper.

I forgot to mention the best thing about Wisconsin liquor laws, the fact that there's no distinction between liquor stores and grocery stores. So every Piggly Wiggly has a liquor section in it with practically any variety of booze (including cold beer) you could imagine. Gas stations etc. can still only sell beer/malt liquor/four loko/etc.

Oh and a weird one is that it's perfectly legal to drink in a bar underage if your parents are with you.

Growing up outside Milwaukee in a heavy drinking culture, the idea of a dry county blows my mind.

snipelfritz wrote:I forgot to mention the best thing about Wisconsin liquor laws, the fact that there's no distinction between liquor stores and grocery stores. So every Piggly Wiggly has a liquor section in it with practically any variety of booze (including cold beer) you could imagine. Gas stations etc. can still only sell beer/malt liquor/four loko/etc.

Oh and a weird one is that it's perfectly legal to drink in a bar underage if your parents are with you.

Growing up outside Milwaukee in a heavy drinking culture, the idea of a dry county blows my mind.

I've never understood zero tolerance type laws... and I've never met anyone who was for them. IMHO groups like MADD always seem to make the issue impervious to intelligent discussion.

Bars close at 2 AM here.

Kansas kind of sucks.
Bars: Close at 2 A.M. Max
Beer and liquor: All grocery and convenience stores can sell is 3.2%ABV beer and that Boone's Farm crap. The only wine they can carry is cooking wine, sherry, and wine coolers. If you want anything stronger you have to get it in a bar or liquor store.
Sales for alcohol outside of bars ends at 10 P.M. for liquor stores and 11 P.M. for the 3.2% beer from grocery and convenience stores. 11A.M.-6P.M. on Sundays.

Schlatte wrote:^You work at a restaurant... which is a registered business, right?
Idk how it is in the US of A, but in Austria it is allowed and possible to buy the things you need to run your business directly from the suppliers of the store... so you just get a business confirmation and are able to buy the stuff you need at the suppliers of the big markets, meaning cheaper.

Okay, this is a largely un-researched diatribe,...just basing it all on hearsay that I'm getting from my boss.

I'm not completely abreast on the laws and I think it may be a wait and see/trial and error sort of thing,...but my understanding is that; for taxation purposes,...he has no choice but to go through a retailer (at the moment a state controlled store with state controlled pricing), which would be considered the supplier. Beer and Wine is a little different as there is a direct supplier that delivers on a weekly basis. But for liquor; currently he has no choice but to call in an order and then he actually has to drive to the liquor store to pick the order up. As far as who the current middle man (supplier to the state stores) is? I'm not sure,....but I'm assuming that they will remain as the suppliers to the corporate stores when the prop is implemented. There is no way for a restaurant/bar owner to cut the corporate stores out of the equation.

With the new prop the taxation model remains the same but the corporate stores become the suppliers to bars and restaurant,...there really is no other way that I'm aware of. I'm told that state stores can become independently contracted after the implementation of the prop this summer, but I'm not sure that they remain under state control.

His concern is that being an independently owned restaurant; he does not have the cash to buy in huge quantities (like a big chain corporate restaurant might) which means he is at the mercy of the prices that the retailer sets (expected to be higher than current state controlled prices); whereas big corporate restaurants with huge coffers have the bulk buying power to stock up and dictate the price they are gonna pay. If you are able to place a $10,000 a month order (speculating),...the retailer is gonna want that money so bad that they will be willing to give you a better price in order to keep you from taking your business elsewhere. The smaller businesses on the other hand aren't able to do that as the money just isn't there.

My boss can shop around if he wishes,...but that doesn't change the fact that retailers are in it for profit and can essentially set whatever prices they want (not saying that state stores aren't in it for profit,...but more often than not they cover overhead and labor and use the taxes raised [which is included in the price of the liquor] for whatever it is they use taxes for). That and shopping around is a pain in the ass for an already time constrained business owner.

I'm really torn on the prop (doesn't really matter at this point as WA voters passed it),...on one hand I tend to be a smaller government is better kind of guy (especially considering that WA state is having a hard time staying in the black),...but at the same time,...in this economy,...putting nearly 3,000 people out of a job is kinda callous. Also,...higher alcohol prices for the restaurant owners is going to lead to higher prices being passed down to the customer,...which could result in a drop in business.

Luckily the restaurant I work at is not really a bar and food, beer and wine sales far eclipse hard alcohol/cocktail sales. The liquor is really only there as an afterthought,...but the reality is that alcohol sales have a better markup and profit margin then food sales. There will be a ding for sure,...and I can see this hurting bars moreso then restaurants. I expect that there will be a few closures as a result of the passing of this prop (already seen one bar close,...actually the bar in which our live recording was made,...but that could be a result of other circumstances).

Man, TX is weird. I used to live in a dry city, and then you had to drive three miles to Ft. Worth, where on the border of Arlington and Ft. Worth, there were like six liquor stores. And, in Denton, there aren't any liquor stores, but you can buy 40s from grocery stores/7-11 until midnight (1AM on Fridays and Saturdays). Bars close at two.

D.o.S. wrote:

snipelfritz wrote:I forgot to mention the best thing about Wisconsin liquor laws, the fact that there's no distinction between liquor stores and grocery stores. So every Piggly Wiggly has a liquor section in it with practically any variety of booze (including cold beer) you could imagine. Gas stations etc. can still only sell beer/malt liquor/four loko/etc.

Oh and a weird one is that it's perfectly legal to drink in a bar underage if your parents are with you.

Growing up outside Milwaukee in a heavy drinking culture, the idea of a dry county blows my mind.

I've never understood zero tolerance type laws... and I've never met anyone who was for them. IMHO groups like MADD always seem to make the issue impervious to intelligent discussion.

Bars close at 2 AM here.

MADD is the reason I don't trust people who only get involved in issues after something tragic has happened to someone they know. They'd rather see something done than be in favor of something that would actually protect people. They have good motivations but no sense of rational judgment.

That said, I don't know what a better solution to drunk driving is living in an area where it is allegedly (may be I've never seen any comparative numbers) an "epidemic" (im only skeptical because we also have people in this state who claim voter fraud is an actual issue).

Achtane wrote:

Best post EVER.

I live a wet county surrounded by dry counties. West is an Indian reservation, south is Mormon community (Cardston, has a nice Temple), and east is bumfuck towns with no liquor stores. Bars and liquor stores have to be closed by 2 am, with last call a half hour before close, but some smaller bars look the other way if you get two or three beers and pound them down after close.