Snapped on a recent trip to San Francisco:
This was at one of like a million mini-marts where you could buy liquor anytime, no big deal, in SF. (It was located right next to a marijuana dispensery, by chance.) I’m pretty sure the dog owns the place. Suffice to say, California’s liquor laws are way more chill than Washington’s. Which is why we should privatize that shit already! I mean, who would you rather buy liquor from? The State? Or this guy:
You’re not helping.
Eeek! Pitbull!
At least I get a vote on what the state decides… that dog is clearly out for himself.
One of the nice things about wisconsin (where i grew up): beer and wine are available in grocery stores, at the gas station, pretty much anywhere (yay!). and you can buy on sunday (yay!). you can buy wine and liquor till 9pm (boooo), and beer till midnight (yay!). in minnesota (where i live now), the only “beer” available in the grocery store is near-beer (boooo), and you can’t buy on sunday (boooo). mon-sat, though, you can buy any kind of alcohol till 10pm (yay!). living on the border is pretty much the way to do it around here.
Great.
More drunks on my street buying harder liquor and selling it to underage kids – all of whom will piss on the sidewalks.
Thanks a lot!
I’ll be voting No on both of these.
OMGz!
A dawg! In a Store for Hoomanz! We will all be killed, surely. No, I’m not calling you Shirley. But that dog has GERMS and will probably POOP all over you when you reach for some delicious likker. Or bite yer face off. OMGz!
j/k, get the state the hell outta the likker bizness, I sez. With or without dogz.
When I lived in the Maryland suburbs of DC, we had state (or maybe county? can’t remember) run liquor stores. However, the stores there were awesome because the prices were extremely low! It was like how the Canadian government uses its leverage to buy pharms cheaply in bulk, but with booze.
The ones here in WA kind of suck because of the high prices. (disclaimer: I don’t believe the government has any business selling booze.)
The state needs to create a drinking license, separate from a driver’s license or state ID. You’d need to show a valid drinking license to buy booze. If you got a a DUI, you’d lose your drinking license. The penalty for anyone providing alcohol to someone without a valid drinking license would be…loss of their drinking license, a $10k fine and 30 days in the slammer. That’d be the end of providing drinks to minors.
In Michigan, there’s liquor *AND* we call ’em “Party Stores”
http://www.psfinewine.com/images/040.jpg
@7 yeah, in BC they have Provincial liquor stores INSIDE grocery stores – with way better selection than you ever see here in WA.
That dog’s name is Army, not for love of the military, but because he prefers to chew on arms, any arms. See the chair there, for starters….
Will, if kids pissing is your main concern, remember that it takes far less liquid volume to get drunk on hard stuff. Think of this as a drunkards’-piss-reduction scheme.
I’d rather go to a dog free liquor store.
@ 8 – Interesting idea. It would give them a template, also, for the eventual marijuana license that the state could issue after legalization.
In theory, I’m completely opposed to government having a say in anything I put in my body once I’m of legal age (I can live with that restriction), and I support legalization of all drugs, but I realize that there is a gulf between theory and practice. Veddy interesting idea you have there, tiktok!
You guys crack me up. There’s a marijuana dispensary 100 feet from my house. Cross the street and there’s a liquor store. Walk two blocks in either direction from that and there are more liquor stores. All of them are open by 9 a.m. (some earlier), and all stay open until midnight. And no, we don’t have any more drunks or underaged kids drinking than any other major city.
@12 – But they’re such nice dogs, and good with liquor.
i’ll betcha, that dog is really sweet
People. Your liquor is expensive because we don’t have an income tax, so we tax sales and vice. As a result, we have have the highest liquor taxes in the country. About 34% of the cost of every bottle of alcohol is due to taxes. And if Costco takes over your liquor will STILL be expensive because those taxes will remain.
The only difference will be that the state’s markup (fairly reasonable by retail standards) that currently pays for 100% of all LCB operations and still has enough left over to contribute on the order of $200 million into the general fund and $60 million dollars into county and city general funds will become Costco’s private profit. You think Costco’s going to take a big hit by lowering its markup dramatically when it knows we are used to paying this much? I doubt it.
Liquor is cheap in CA because they don’t tax the shit out of it. Stop thinking that the state monopoly is the reason your hooch costs more. It isn’t. Check out last year’s WALCB Annual Report for a further breakdown of the numbers: http://liq.wa.gov/publications/2009-WSLC…
What about the asshole? of the dog? on the chair? Where’s Charles?
but you can’t buy anything – not even beer or wine – after 9pm. hate it.
That’s not a pit bull – it’s a booze hound.
@8 and @13 – I actually advocate a drinking license for those age 18 to 21 with a written test and heavy penalties and losss of license if there is driving with ANY alcohol in the system. When I was 18 in Colorado we could buy and consume 3.2 percent beer – sort of alcohol training wheels – and that was a good compromise, but a drinking license still is the best way to go!
If that dog could be trained to bite anyone under the age of 21 who tries to buy booze, they might be on to something.
@17,
I don’t care if it costs the same, I’m just sick of paying through the nose for garbage.
Wow, all of the wonderful states you cited with privatized liquor all have income taxes to supplement their income. Washington does not.
Unless that dog will give the state $360 million (which is what the WSLCB delivered in FY 2010), then my vote is still no.
The state markup isn’t consistent. It’s not that bad on garden-variety booze, but for more obscure stuff it’s insane. The other day I found a bottle of rum that WSLCB wants $90 for that’s $35 in other states and online. A review of it I read mentioned its “affordability”. So, yeah. Ninety bucks.
Death to the WSLCB.
Are Spanky and Alfalfa stock boys?
wow, did you have a cultural event purchasing liquor in the city?
what a fantastic little piece here but the plus, it is not another dribble article on music. geez.
Eric, you can’t really think the “Washington needs to be more like California” argument helps your case, can you?!? How long have you lived here?
IM IN UR STORE, DRINKIN UR LICKER
And, while we’re on the subject, where the hell is my real-deal heavy-on-the-wormwood Absinthe? Huh? HUH, huh?!?
Coddamit.
I can’t get behind the idea of needing a license to drink liquor. Anyway, if they can’t keep 18 yr olds from getting booze now, how is the license idea going to be more effective?
(insert dumb joke about slippery slope to dessert/big mac licenses)
There should TOTALLY be Big Mac licenses. Based on a person’s general health and BMI – too high BMI, no Big Mac for you!!!!!
(do I need to say) j/k
that dog is fat
Aw, that pooch is too cute! That facial expression reminds me of Petey from Little Rascals.
@AmyC – one major difference between WA and WI is Wisconsin’s Tavern League (http://www.tlw.org/public/about.shtml), which is one of the strongest lobby groups in the state.
If Washington has that powerful of a liquor lobby, I’m not aware of it, despite having several friends who run bars and restaurants.
Oh, hooray! A pit bull in a liquor store! Fantastic!
Yes, please privatize the sale of liquor so we can have pit bulls in our corner-marts with bullet proof glass and bars on the windows and doors that sell liquor. How awesome that will be!
That’s a really well thought-out plan you have there.
And while you’re advocating for a state income tax, did you consider that privatizing state liquor sales is going to cost the state about $300 million dollars a year in revenue? Do you think Costco is going to just happily support a giant-ass liquor tax to make up for this loss? Or do you think that maybe they’ll fight liquor taxes with the same gusto they’ve shown going after the state liquor stores?
Stranger, you need to put the bong down for a while. Get a grip.
Vote no on 1100 and 1105.
@35 for the win.
Just think, a $350 million dollar budget hole means lots of rapists and murderers will be set free. Like that guy they caught in Ballard or the one they’re looking for in Seward Park.
Foghorn: thank you. I’ve been trying to explain this to people, and sadly, I still get the “but I want to be able to buy booze at 12:00 am on a Sunday!” argument.
I would like to not pay any taxes either! Except I’m a fan of the things my taxes pay for, like schools, roads, fire dept. etc.
I’d like my booze to be more accessible as much as the next gal, but not at the cost of losing 360M out of the general fund! BTW, isn’t California like the most bankrupt state in the union? Great shining example there.
Reminds me of the place in New Jersey that Audrey bought liquor for her and Charlie before they went to that motel.
It is a sad day in America when even a fake pitbull post can’t get 40 replies on SLOG.
I blame the gateway drug alcohol and it’s pushers at the Stranger.
@35, @37, you’re both either stupid or liars. There’s no reason why privatized liquor sales would reduce money going into the general fund; in fact, it will almost certainly go UP.
@ 35 – You say “while you’re advocating for a state income tax, did you consider that privatizing state liquor sales is going to cost the state about $300 million dollars a year in revenue?”
I’m no financial whiz, but perhaps that income tax would make up for the cost of getting the state’s fingers outta the liquor biz? And, what part of ‘most regressive tax system in the country’ is unclear to you?
Are you seriously suggesting that the poor SHOULD foot more than their fair share of the tax bill, while the richie-riches laugh and stuff their off-shore accounts full to bursting? Really?
@17. Hey turkey, we don’t care what it costs. We just want to be able to get liquor at more convenient locations during all hours of the legal selling period (6am-2am).
I prefer liquor vendors with covered assholes.
I don’t mind getting the state out of the liquor business if we can also get pit bulls out of the “viciously killing innocent people all the fucking time” business.