Buzz Continues on Alcohol Bans at Grocery Stores

Since Prohibition ended in 1933, it has generally been up to state and local authorities to regulate the sale of alcohol, including in grocery stores. This week, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot created headlines when she proposed a ban on packaged alcohol sales at the city’s grocery and convenience stores after midnight.

The proposal, yet to be voted on by the City Council, extends the temporary late night/early morning halt in adult beverage sales that was imposed during the pandemic. The initial pandemic-era curfew was 9 p.m., later changed to 11 p.m.

When Lightfoot first floated the idea last month of making the curfew permanent, the suggested 10 p.m. cut-off was met with backlash from city aldermen, local merchants and consumers. Many argued the timing was too early and cumbersome on business owners getting back on their feet after the pandemic and civil unrest of 2020.

The newest proposal received more positive reviews in the nation’s third most populous urban center. One alderman, Tom Tunney, said it was a “good compromise between the needs of businesses that are working to recover from the pandemic and the needs of residents that face quality of life issues in their neighborhoods.”

Controversies over booze laws affecting grocers have emerged in other parts of the country, too. This week, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf indicated that he would veto legislation allowing beer-and-wine licensed retailers, including grocery stores, to sell cans of mixed hard alcohol drinks to go. At the same time, Gov. Wolf said he agrees with the original intent of supporting pandemic-affected restaurants and hotels through the sale of take-home adult drinks. “I support memorializing this relief for bars and restaurants by making cocktails-to-go permanent and I strongly urge the Senate to support Pennsylvania’s bars, restaurants and hotels by sending a clean bill to my desk today," he said in a statement released on June 15.

Meanwhile, in Maryland, some lawmakers in the General Assembly tried earlier this spring to change alcohol laws in that state, including one on the books since 1978 banning grocery and convenience stores from selling adult beverages. The bill was backed by the Maryland Retailers Association. 

The upshot – no alcohol pun intended – of this week’s announcements? Expect more legislation and passionate responses on a topic that has been up for heated debate for a century or more.