Increased sales haven’t been limited to grocery stores and other businesses that sell household items: Liquor stores have also been more frequented by customers during the coronavirus pandemic.
But Columbia store owners report that supply constraints have been their chief problem.
Tena Royce, owner of T&S Cutrate Liquor on South High School Avenue, said the biggest issue has been the distributor limiting their orders because the Mississippi Alcoholic Beverage Control office in Jackson, run by the state, had 22 people walk out the first day and 19 the next.
“That’s where all of the orders come from,” she said. “It’s getting harder to get product.”
B&E Fine Wine & Spirits on U.S. 98 has had issues with product coming in as well, with owner Charlie Pope saying the state is behind getting orders out.
“They’re getting so many orders that they’re having a hard time filling them,” Pope said.
Deputy Director Chip Jones for ABC said the state has limits on how many cases it can send out in a day, but the main reason behind the delay has been that nobody was able to foresee the spike caused by the pandemic.
“It was pretty much impossible for us to prepare for it like we do for our busy season, which is the holiday season,” he explained. “For instance, what we do for the holidays is we staff up, increase our workforce and increase our number of shipping days. That helps alleviate some of the pressure and helps us make our deliveries on a consistent basis.”
However, rather than increasing its workforce, ABC has actually had to send some of its people home because they were either exposed to the virus or had health concerns. Jones said it’s a “double-edged sword” between the amount of orders coming in and a reduced workforce, but the situation is beginning to stabilize.
“The case count is starting to come down, and for the past week or so we’ve pretty much had our full warehouse staff here. Hopefully within a week or two, we’ll be back to normal,” he said.
Gov. Tate Reeves deemed liquor stores to be “essential” businesses that can stay open during a shelter-in-place order. Although some have scoffed at that designation, other states that have not made liquor stores “essential” have seen unintended consequences like residents driving out of state to buy liquor — at the very time that travel is supposed to be restricted to prevent the virus’s spread.
Royce said she was surprised at first her business was considered essential, but when she stopped to think about it it made more sense with the high-stress levels circulating during the pandemic.
Pope said he wasn’t surprised liquor stores were deemed essential with the potential consequences the fallout would have.
Sales of alcohol at U.S. liquor and grocery stores increased 22% for the week that ended March 28 compared with the same week last year, according to data cited by the Wall Street Journal from research firm Nielsen.
Royce said she wasn’t prepared for the spike in sales when the crisis first began, but she said they have come back down to regular levels at T&S.
Pope said his business has picked up as well at B&E.
T&S also had an employee have to leave indefinitely because they have bad lungs.
“We’re just trying to survive from one day to the next.” Royce said. “Since we’re essential, we’re trying to take every precaution we can to stay open. We’ve always cleaned, but we’ve went beyond to the point of bleaching and spraying everything every 30 minutes.”
B&E has made a concerted effort to keep its business clean, wiping down every surface constantly and disinfecting the store.
T&S has also taken other safety precautions, enforcing the six-foot social distancing rule, installing a plastic divider between customers and the cashier and doing curbside orders for the elderly.
While T&S is offering curbside orders, it isn’t being used much because a lot of people prefer to go in and shop, according to Royce.
“They don’t really know what they want,” she said. “Most of them are wine drinkers that like a variety, and they’re trying to get enough for a month.”
Pope is still getting to know the business himself after taking over B&E in December, but he said he was expecting sales to slow down during the spring. The coronavirus had other plans, leading people to self-quarantine and stock up on essential supplies, including alcohol.
