Liquor Sales Trend Up During Coronavirus Pandemic

Many metro liquor stores are seeing a jump in sales since the pandemic.
 
A few groups, including Moore Liquor, have found ways to be creative.
Advocates said someday that could lead to long-term change.
 
“This is kind of a great experiment in how we can adapt to having those products delivered to our homes,” said Lisette Barnes, President of Oklahoma Beer Alliance.
 
Moore Liquor offers pick-up or delivery. And just like supermarkets—they too had a high demand for items.
“We had just panic-buying, not toilet paper-level panic buying, but people coming in and stocking-up on their favorite beverage because they thought liquor stores would be closed too,” said Bryan Kerr, Owner of Moore Liquor.
 
While most of the panic-buying has fizzled out, Kerr said his store and a few others are still reporting strong numbers. So much so that he was able to higher some additional workers to keep up with the demand.

Those workers that had been laid-off and needed some help in these times of crisis.
He said it’s his job is to keep them safe too.
 
“Nobody inside the store except for employees. All employees wear masks, and have been for weeks now. We deliver out to people’s cars. They order online and we take it to them, or we deliver it to their homes if they are in within a couple mile radius,” said Kerr.
 
While the Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission reports it’s not keeping track of pandemic consumption data. They have temporarily lifted restrictions to help local businesses with their inventory.
 
Plenty of bars and restaurants were left with a stockpile following Oklahoma’s safer-at- home order.
 
“There is a tremendous need for us to reduce some of this inventory. All of it is timecoded, especially with beer,” said Barnes.
 
Soon, restaurants also began offering pick-up and delivery.

Barnes said until the can review local sales tax data, they won’t know the scope of beer and liquor sales which is typically tallied month-by-month.
 
Once things are back on track in Oklahoma, she wonders if these temporary sale measures could become permanent.
 
The state recently updated liquor laws to include sales at grocery stores, gas stations, and Sunday sales. Barnes said had Oklahoma not done that, sales during the pandemic might not have been possible.
 
“We have moved to modernization. Thank goodness we had because a lot of these adjustments could not have been accomplished in our old system,” said Barnes.
 
Meal-delivery services like Grubhub and UberEats cannot deliver alcohol. You have to go through the original source.