Liquor stores to stay open during order
In Memphis, a shelter-in-place order does not mean residents can’t keep company with some spirits.
Starting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Memphis will officially operate under the executive order “Safer at Home,” and become one of the latest metro area in the U.S. to do so in an effort to halt the spread of COVID-19.
Liquor stores, which fall under the essential business category of “beverage stores,” will still be permitted to operate during Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s shelter-in-place order. Some larger liquor stores accustomed to larger volumes of customers have adopted new service guidelines that combine social distancing and sales.
By Monday afternoon, Buster’s Liquors & Wines had transitioned to online orders only. While employees donning latex gloves ferried boxes of the hard stuff to customers at the curb, a security guard politely explained to one walk-up customer after another that the store had shifted its operations exclusively to online order.
Josh Hammond, who owns Buster’s along with his brother Morgan, said some customers had ordered through Buster’s thinking it was their last day to do so before shelter-in-place went into effect.
“Some were concerned that we were closing up, but we’re switching to online orders only to keep our customers and employees safe,’ said Hammond.
At Buster’s, customers are asked to place their orders online. When they arrive to pick up their order, they check in at the front of the store, and a Buster’s employee will come out with their order in hand.
Joking that Buster’s was aiming to be the, “Besos of Booze,” Hammond said the liquor store would operate like Amazon warehouse for the foreseeable future, while Memphis and the rest of the world work through what it means to be a provider of “essential goods” in the midst of a pandemic.
For those interested in making the lives of their liquor-slingers easier, “Please, please consider ordering cases,” Hammond said, indicating Buster’s employees were scrambling to ricochet from one end of the store to another, in an effort to fill complicated orders.
In Midtown, Joe’s Wines & Liquor also had long queues of online orders waiting to be assembled by employees and dropped in the hands of anxious customers.
Sisco Larson, the owner of Joe’s, said he had noticed a number of customers were worried Tuesday would be their last chance to squirrel away their inebriate of choice.
“There have certainly been people wondering this throughout the day whether we were going to close up,” Larson said.
Larson said Joe’s had transitioned to a combination of online, text,and phone orders in an effort to tamp down on the amount of pedestrian traffic.
Larson noted his gratitude that liquor stores fell under the “essential businesses” designation.
“We’re obviously very relieved to be able to keep paying everyone at this time, especially when so many of our brethren that work in bars and restaurants that we love have lost their income,” Larson said.
While Strickland’s order has identified liquor stores as essential businesses, the order does not come with operational guidelines, which means for now, owners must decide how their store will adjust.
Tip Top Liquor Stores on Madison was open for business as usual on Tuesday and elected to continue to allow customers inside of the business.
As a neighborhood corner store, owner Hai Tran said, for now, there was plenty of space to be able to accommodate the smaller crowds more typical of a neighborhood liquor store.
Tran said that he had been listening to what actions the city was taking and would adjust if necessary.
“We’re just going to see how it goes, but for now, you can come inside,” Tran said.