Yes they would. I think that was my point. Reread my post with the knowledge that I agree with you, that they would sell a ton of liquor. I should have said "they don't have *as* much interest", especially on average...probably driven by the power of large distributors and the size of their stores. First, my main point is both grocery stores and Specs seem to be fine with status quo. I don't think that's arguable. So, I'm trying to simply say that I'm fine with it, and provide reason why I'm fine with it. I'm not really making an argument regarding changing the rules or not. Not really wanting to get in the middle of this Blue Law debate, except to add I'm perfectly fine with the way it is from a selfish standpoint enough to have reason to fear change. Regarding HEB specialty wine selections ... curious...do they keep their main A/C on 24/7? Those huge amount of refrigerators/freezers pump out a lot of heat. In fact, don't most Wholefoods remove their fragile produce from the produce section during closing to put them in a cool space. The best wine stores that I know are very diligent at room temperature control and don't have vast amounts of refrigerators. Further, I would never buy a $50 bottle of wine (or up) at a grocery store, because I don't know how long that wine has been sitting there. And further, I don't want to go into a huge ass HEB, and deal with that parking, for the sole reason to buy quality wine, when I can go to the Wine Merchant on Shepherd. And honestly, HEB does not have the selection that boutique wine merchants do. Not the broadest selection, nor (more importantly) the rotation of great wines to try,,,especially in the $20-60 range. And they don't have anyone who I would trust to give me recommendations like boutiques do. And in Houston, the places with the best selection and quality control of wine also have Liquor Licenses. But let me go ahead and concede that some grocery stores have quality selections that I like, to make my point. Certainly convenience stores and gas stations don't!! If you open up unfettered access to liquor licenses from grocery stores and convention stores, I'm a firm believer that stores who focus on quality selection like the main Spec's Downtown and the Wine Merchant in Houston will take a hit. This will definitely happen in CO if you remove restrictions to Cultivator Licenses and Recreation Licenses. So yeah, I'm talking mainly from a theoretical standpoint to say change might not be good for quality.
Then let me reassure you: I live in AZ. I can walk four minutes and buy a fine selection of liquor, wine or beer at the supermarket on Sunday or any other day. I am a beer snob. Supermarkets have selections equal to those in Houston, where I lived for 7 years. Specialty stores like Total Wine and Bev Mo have huge selections every day of the week. CVS even sells beer wine and liquor (at the best prices), with a few good beers to be found. The bigger gas/marts also stock acceptable beer brands.
So you're basically saying that customers, without this law, would make different choices than they do now. So blue laws hurt consumers and artificially prop up the Spec's of the world, and that you support that?
Let me reassure you: Not Wine! I'm a Wine Snob. AZ is no different than Texas when it comes to wine in supermarkets. Supermarkets cannot come close to comparing to the quality of product and the quality of service of Boutique Wine shops like The Wine Merchant!
I content that's overstated. My whole post was from a single customer. I started my post by saying, "It's no big deal to me." And I spend the rest of the post explaining the benefits to me, no matter how slight or speculation. I'll leave it to you guys to argue with Specs over why they want to keep the restriction going. For me, as a voter, my vote is "status quo." And the main reason I vote that, is due to me trying to wrap my head around why the grocery stores and liquor stores seem to be in a mutual compromise to maintain "Status Quo." And the other main statement in my posts are that [edit] removing [/edit] Restrictions of obtaining Cultivating Licenses and Recreational Licenses for mar1juana sales in CO will *damn sure* cause a quality hit on the product. So, it would be hypocritical of me to want restrictions on MJ licenses but not Liquor licenses.
But they're not. Grocery stores are trying to get their own liquor stores in Texas, and the only reason why they're not pushing to be able to sell liquor out of their main stores is because they think it will shock the delicate sensibilities of the Baptists and others who get off on trying to make other people as miserable as they are. The grocery stores are fighting the liquor stores on this in court. Spoiler The legislation, versions of which are in Senate and House committees, would not let grocery stores sell spirits; under current law, they can only sell beer and wine. Rather, it would repeal the publicly held company ban and the kinfolks exception, so that Walmart and its allies could open more than five package stores. In other words, there would be a Walmart liquor store located next to the Walmart, with separate entrances and different hours than the main store. And why a separate store instead of letting supermarkets sell scotch and vodka? Because supporters don't think Texas, despite a decade of liquor law reform that saw Lubbock and North Dallas go wet, is ready for grocery stores to sell gin. Plus, that change would require the Legislature to revise other parts of the the state's liquor code, since spirits can't always be sold when beer and wine are sold. http://www.dallasobserver.com/resta...liquor-stores-over-who-can-sell-booze-7181366
That article is not describing selling liquor within a grocery store. It is separate stores, which means the Blue Law will apply, and they will be closed on Sunday. Not relevant to the tangent we are talking about.
Then let me reassure you. I live in AZ, and CO weed is the best in the world, better than Amsterdam or Bangkok--I know from experience--and everyone already knows those suppliers
haha. right on. btw: I had a typo in my post that I fixed above. Meant to type "removing restrictions" will...
Just pointing out that there is no alliance between grocery stores and liquor stores to maintain status quo. They're fighting about this in court right now.
My bad. It's been two days since I read that story so I got it wrong. But still: http://www.dallasobserver.com/resta...liquor-stores-over-who-can-sell-booze-7181366
Why is it that on Sunday you can't buy beer until noon but if you go to the Texans game they can sell beer??
cool. Thx for the article. So, "compromise" is not what is happening. But a battle is, and note that link in your article leads to a story about Wine Supremacy. Spec's and Total Wine Are Battling for Wine Supremacy, and You're Drinking the Benefits http://www.dallasobserver.com/resta...emacy-and-youre-drinking-the-benefits-7043169
As do I, but I see those issues as having more to do with having a financial system that has taxpayers mitigating risk for corporations. I mean, what incentive are we giving banks to honestly underwrite risk when we have a government that's demonstrated a commitment to buying their toxic assets? But at the end of the day, this issue is more pressing to me because we have more control over our local government. The federal government is corrupt, and won't be holding corporations accountable any time soon (if the last hundred or so years is any indication of that). We can and should remove these restrictions. As a consumer, it's silly to be inconvenienced by this. For workers, it's silly to have hours and pay potentially limited by this (keeping in mind that workers are entitled time off for worship if they so desire). And for business owners, this is essentially religion taking priority over business decisions that should be in their hands. This may not be a major issue to you, but this is exactly the sort of incrementalism that builds up to become a problem. How much unemployment does the State of Texas cause with this and similar restrictions? We've seen what a boom legal mar1juana has been for Colorado. To me, you essentially arguing that there are bigger fish to fry is a cop out. Why not contribute honestly to this conversation and let everybody know where you stand?
There is a distinction in the law between buying for consumption on premise and off premise. Its the same reason you can't buy a bottle of scotch after 9PM, but the bars can pour until 2AM. There's actually about a million different classes of permits to cover all the different situations, and each have specific rules about what they do and don't allow: https://www.tabc.state.tx.us/licensing/license_and_permit_description.asp
Off topic.. There is no such thing as best weed anymore. Most of the stuff you get now are grown indoors so geographic location is no longer an advantage. You can also buy any cannabis strain online and the knowledge on how to properly grow the plant is not necessarily rocket science. Let's say you like "King Loiue OG kush" strain, you will be able to buy seeds online (legally) and grow it in Texas indoors(illegal).
