Liquor is quicker
As businesses reopen, package stores seeing a return to normal
Business at Connecticut packages stores is returning to normal in small increments as more of the state opens up following restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, owners of some retail outlets said.
The latest increment? A reopening of can and bottle returns, Stephen Downes, president of the Middletownbased Connecticut Package Stores Association, said. State officials had granted package stores and other retailers that accept bottle and can returns a temporary reprieve from the practice in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
Downes, owner of Connecticut Beverage Mart, which has stores in Middletown, Newington and Wallingford, said another example of the return to normal is that his business began accepting cash payments again. For the first two months of the pandemic, Connecticut Beverage Mart stores would only accept credit card payments, he said.
“Nobody wanted to work ( and handle cash),” Downes said. “So in order to stay open, we made some accommodations.”
Interest in some services that liquor stores around the state started providing to skittish customers, such as curbside pickups, is also waning, he said, “Of course, older people and others who are at risk still use the service,” Downes said.
Package stores were deemed essential businesses and were allowed to remain open while other retailers were shut down by Gov. Ned Lamont. But with other elements of everyday life changing, not only in Connecticut but in neighboring states, package stores felt ancillary effects.
For example, Fairfield County package stores are seeing a surge in business from customers in the Bronx, Yonkers and Westchester County, N. Y., according to Terry Rogers, owner of Harbor Point Wines & Spirits store in Stamford’s South End. “Right now, it’s New York, New York, New York,” Rogers said of the recent surge in customers.
“We’re right along the water and that’s where the people from New York want to be on Friday through Sunday. When the restaurants in New York reopen fully, it will drop off.” Typically, the busiest sales periods for Connecticut package stores are the winter holidays, starting at Thanksgiving and ending at New Year’s Day, according to Downes.
But the pandemic has made package store customers less inclined to make liquor, wine and beer purchases in advance of holidays, Rogers said.
“People aren’t really paying attention to specifics,” she said. “It’s like in ( the movie) ‘ Groundhog Day’ where every day is the same.”
Downes said package stores around the state saw strong Mother’s Day and Memorial Day sales. But he said June will be a tough period for sales because of the way the coronavirus has prevented large group gatherings such as parties for graduations.
“We’re hoping there will be an increase in activity on the Fourth of July,” Downes said. “Typically, there’s not as much in terms of sales as you might expect for the holiday because ( it’s) a time that people go away to the Cape ( Cod) for. But this year may be different in terms of people staying home.”