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[The water cooler - What Eastsiders are talking about - By Ann Garretson]

"Should grocery stores sell hard liquor?"
(asked at Presto Espresso in Totem Lake on 02-24-99; published in the EJ on 02-28-99)


[pt.]Garth Watkins, Barista, Bothell
[blue rule]
"I don't see why not, personally. It's just like having an 18 year-old kid no-smoking thing -- they get them anyway."

[pt.]Chris Budinger, Candy store owner, Bothell
[blue rule]
"Absolutely, because the state has no business being in the liquor business. It'll also provide potentially more liquor sales thus increasing generated taxes."

[pt.]Alan Crow, Small business owner, Kirkland
[blue rule]
"Yes, they should be allowed to. My general Rule of Thumb is 'less government intervention is usually better.' Obviously it would be more convenient for the consumer. Maybe we should study California -- they sell liquor in grocery stores there."

[pt.]Sue Holve, Cashier, Snohomish
[blue rule]
"It's no big deal. I grew up in Hawaii and we had it there. California has it, too. In Hawaii, they just have a separate section. Long's Drugs in Hawaii even has a separate section for liquor -- hard liquor -- with their own registers and everything."

[pt.]Mark Kraft, Construction, Kirkland
[blue rule]
"No, because I don't believe in hard liquor. I think it should be limited to where it is now. I have a little girl, she just turned four, so I don't mess with it."

[pt.]Matthew Perry, Sales consultant, Bothell
[blue rule]
"Actually, now that I think about it, maybe grocery stores would be better. The prices would be lower and it would be more convenient, more available to the consumer. I used to work in the beverage industry, for a beer distributor, and I think that things would probably be better run by the grocery stores."

 

[blue rule]

© 1999 by the Bellevue, WA-based Eastside Journal newspaper.

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