Fun fact: the liquor stores always piled up around the edges of dry countries all have rear parking lots and entrances so the “religious” customers can shop without their pickups being seen from the highway.
Also, liquor stores are closed on Sundays, and no alcohol can be purchased any store or restaurant before noon. Unless you’re a brunch-goer, then you can buy alcohol at restaurants - but only if you’re purchasing food with it.
The reason laws like this are on the books is to protect individual liquor stores—I’m guessing that in Texas you can’t buy booze in the grocery or drug store like you can in more civilized areas of the nation.
I believe that one can finally purchase wine (if not liquor) in Arlington but for years, one had to leave the city limits to purchase anything stronger than beer (and IIRC beer was limited by its ABV). Naturally there was a liquor store (“Big Daddy’s” with a Burl Ives-looking mascot) just across the Ft. Worth line (or, going the other direction, in the county-not-city pocket next to the XXX Barn).
Restaurants could sell alcohol, but it had to be a restaurant, and the drink sales had to be under some percentage of the gross sales. (I think there’s some similar reason why some (though not all) liquor stores in MD have a deli therein.)
Dallas (City? or County?) had (and maybe still has) this weird thing where a particular (ETA: & seemingly random) piece of property was dry, except that a club (where ever it happens to be) is allowed to serve alcohol to its members. So Benihana’s (for example) had a fully-stocked bar, but it was “members only.” They’d sell a one-time trial membership for a few bucks and then one could order what they wished. (Come to think of it, Dallas City/County had its own film ratings board, so that a movie that had a PG rating from the MPAA might actually be R-rated in Dallas. I don’t know if or how Dallas squared their own use of the MPAA’s trademarked movie ratings with the MPAA itself.)
When my family moved to TX I quickly found out that one could not buy toys – including model glue – on Sundays. There were (IIRC) other weirdly specific things like being able to buy nails but not a hammer (or vice-versa) – or a metal ladder but not a wooden one etc. – on Sundays. I think most if not all of the blue laws went out the window in 1985.
In my experience (again as someone who grew up in Texas), liquor in the supermarket is the exception and not the rule. I live in Maryland now which has its own weirdness. Liquor is sold in liquor stores, and in Montgomery Co. it’s in county-run stores (and on Sundays in both cases). A supermarket, or a grocery can sell wine and beer, but evidently a chain of stores cannot. So there’s one Giant near us that sells wine and beer, but none of the others do; there’s one Shoppers’ that does but not others etc. Presumably there’s a Safeway in Maryland that has wine and beer but I’ve yet to set foot in it. Trader Joe’s and World Market seemingly don’t even bother with a wine/beer section in their MD stores; not sure about Aldi’s…
These folks are really good at self-own stuff.
One might assume that “Charles Leard, owner of the M&R Liquor shop” knows his customers.
Champagne is traditional for tonight. If I lived in Texas, I might think it more than a little bit annoying.
M&R was open until about 30 minutes ago today (Saturday). So I think the champagne isn’t the issue. It’s the morning fifth shoppers on Monday that will be most impacted.
A nice New Years Bourbon for me though, so to each their own.
edit: I just checked and grocery stores will still be selling wine and beer tomorrow and Monday, so there’s that.
How to encourage binge drinking in one easy lesson.
At least most of the Blue Laws are gone. I think alcohol and cars are the only things you can’t sell on Sundays now. And IIRC, car dealerships can be open on Sunday if they are closed on Saturday.
Many years ago, my now-wife and I were traveling through East Texas and stopped at a Piggly Wiggly that had Cokes in bottles. We bought some and were told we couldn’t buy the bottle opener to open them because of Blue Laws.
Holy shit, I had forgotten Tom Hanks had an occasional character on Family Ties!
Every time I watch older TV, I am reminded how much thinner people used to be. Including me. 
Hmmmm. Have we got wider in proportion with our TVs? Has Sony been involved in a plot to make us all fatter? 
Seems legit to me.
on the subject of making it difficult to buy alcohol and perhaps the opposite of texas (as in, this state is the opposite of texas), Massachusetts (used to?) require a Massachusetts state ID or driver’s license to buy alcohol. Other state IDs, passports, etc were not accepted. Just like anywhere, of course, individual stores didn’t always follow the rules.
What about “small government”, “job killing regulations”, “protecting small businesses”, “peronal freedom”, “dont tread on me”…
It was even weirder when I was there. Almost every place was part of one “club” and you could buy the card for that club and use it just about anywhere. It was a pretty nominal fee too, something like $1, IIRC. When the law is that easy to flout, why the hell did they bother with it?
When was this? I was there mid to late '90s, and don’t recall seeing anything, at least at the theaters. Wouldn’t have noticed if it was in the newspaper ads.
I learned something new, I never knew that local boards existed.
The Dallas board was abolished in 1993.
Don’t use the stretch to fit option on your TV?
I think the new trend is echo pillar-boxing which just looks awful.
There’s an old joke about this: Jews don’t recognize the divinity of Jesus; Protestants don’t recognize the authority of the Pope; and Baptists don’t recognize each other at the liquor store.
My town is the location of the headquarters of the WTCU, and didn’t allow liquor sales of any kind until 1973 and didn’t have a liquor store until sometime in the 80s. Plenty of booze shops just beyond the city limits. It’s claimed that the ice cream sundae was invented here, to circumvent laws restricting the sale of carbonated sodas on Sundays.
You can’t sell cars on Sundays?
I think you can pick one of Saturday / Sunday to be closed, but I could be mistaken.
Yeah, it’s stupid.
