Pennsylvania's answer to privatizing booze sales? Bigger, better state stores

[TexasTowelie]

WESTMONT, Pa. - Andy Rose wasn't thinking about the booze tax levied eight decades ago to help this region recover from a devastating flood, or the politics of the Liquor Control Board that controls alcohol sales in Pennsylvania.

He just wanted some wine.

So he came last week to the new state-run wine and spirits store that opened in this Johnstown suburb before Thanksgiving.

A law enacted this year lets Pennsylvanians for the first time buy wine at hundreds of grocery stores and gas stations, and online. Republican leaders who control the legislature insist total privatization remains their goal.

Yet here was Rose, browsing in one of dozens of State Stores opened or upgraded this year. Bigger and nicer than the one it replaced. And an example of how the LCB, created in the 1930s to regulate alcohol, has responded to the intensifying calls for its disbandment.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20161129_Pa__s_answer_to_privatizing_booze_sales__Bigger__better_state_stores.html

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. My now ex used to work for a wholesale liquor distributor

in a state somewhere in fly-over country, meaning somewhere not NY or CA. One thing I learned during that time was that each and every state had truly peculiar liquor laws. By and large, this country has not gotten over Prohibition, and there are still dry counties out there.

My feeling about alcohol consumption is essentially my feeling about abortion: if you don't think a person should consume alcohol, then don't. If you don't believe in abortion, then don't have one. Meanwhile, stay the fuck out of everyone else's life.

[TexasTowelie]

2. I must admit that as a Texan

the first time that I read that liquor stores in other stores were state-run was a complete shock. During my youth the liquor stores were mom-and-pop shops that were dark and dreary. The first time that I went to a liquor store with adequate lighting was in a strip mall in Round Rock, Texas which was about ten miles away from the university I attended--by the time I drove home on the back county roads I was at a point that I didn't need to drink anymore.

Over the past 15 years or so I became more accustomed to going to well-lit corporate liquor stores such as Centennial when I was in Dallas and Spec's in Austin, Brenham and Houston that not only sold liquor, but also had glassware, fine cigars and even unusual grocery items like smoked cheeses, tapenades, and various types of jerky that I had trouble finding at other stores.

I never lived in a dry county, but when I went to college the east side of Georgetown, Texas was dry and I had to buy a private membership to drink at one of the restaurants that served mixed drinks. Fortunately it is no longer dry there so I won't have to deal with that problem again. Meanwhile, I live about a half-mile away from the mom-and-pop liquor store in the small town where I reside. When I do drink it is usually limited to vodka (Skyy) or brandy. The local stores do not stock my favorite brand of beer (Purple Haze).

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. If you've lived most or (worse yet) all of your life in one small part of the country,

you have no clue that things are different elsewhere. You described quite well your shock (in your own words) about different liquor stores. So many other things are involved.

I've had the good fortune to live in several different parts of the country, so I can compare and contrast all sorts of things.

A good friend of mine, a man I worked with many years ago on the East Coast, returned twenty years or so ago to the place he was from. And even though he has travelled a great deal to many parts of the world, he's constantly assuming that certain things are specific to his local area. Things like how people drive. I tell him there are equally bad drivers everywhere. And even though (and this I know all too well) certain flaws are stronger in certain parts of the country, there are crappy drivers no matter where you go.

I've long complained about the provincialism of people who live in New York City. Yes, they have access to all sorts of things there, but they honestly haven't a clue that such things are also available elsewhere. But it's not just New Yorkers. It's people everywhere who've never lived elsewhere. Or who have only lived in one or two different places.

I don't hold any sorts of record, and I've never had the good fortune to live in another country. But my experience in different parts of this wonderful country has made me cognizant of all sorts of things.