A new store has opened in Hills Center (Click here for my post on HC.) - (yn) (pronounced wine). A very sleek and modern store, (yn) sells . . . wine, wine, wine. The owner, Ed Fryer, has filled his store with good wines, and most cost less than $20 per bottle. I'll tell you a little more about (yn) tomorrow, but I wanted to elaborate on Tennessee's wine laws to give you a little background before you see his store.
In yesterday's post, I mentioned that state laws prohibit grocers and other stores from selling wine. Actually, the state laws regarding alcohol sales are among the most stringent in the US.
Consider:
* If you want to buy wine or hard liquor, you must go to a liquor store.
* It is a felony for state residents to buy wine from a winery or over the internet and have it shipped to their homes.
* Wine retailers must buy wine directly from state-approved distributors.
* There are no wine/liquor sales on Sunday. (There used to be a law prohibiting the sale of beer before noon on Sundays. I think that law changed when the Titans started playing in Tennessee so that they could sell beer before noon games. However, I'm not sure about that.)
* In an effort to curb underage drinking, the state passed a law requiring that everyone (no matter how old you look) who purchases beer in a store in TN provide a photo ID. Clerks now scan your driver's license at checkout. This is not the case for wine or liquor. Click here to read about that law.
* Groceries may sell beer but not wine. If the liquor store sells beer as well as wine and liquor, the store must keep the beer in a separate establishment with its own outside entrance. In other words, one cannot go directly from the section of the store that houses the wine/liquor into the section that sells beer. You have to enter each from its own separate entrance from the outside.
Legislators are currently considering a law that would allow grocers to sell wine. A statewide campaign backed by the grocery lobby is in full swing right now. You can read more about it here. Called "Red White and Food," the campaign started last week. (Click that for more information on RWF.)
Tomorrow, I'll tell you a little bit about Ed and (yn).
15 comments:
Wine photographs so well through your lens!
Sounds very much like Mississippi. I can remember when liquor stores couldn't have any windows!
Thanks for enjoying today's post. I do feel better. Duncan has slept until after my alarm clock for two days in a row! Dare I hope for this to continue? Yes, I have hope.
Your state liquor laws are similar to those in Ohio where I live. For many years it was left up to local laws or ordinances and people had to actually vote as to whether a store could sell beer. State laws forbid stores from selling beer if the store was closer than 200 feet to a public building, such as a library. Then finally, stores got the OK to sell wine but not on Sunday. You could not buy wine in supermarkets on Sunday and it is still that way.
Bootlegging and selling moonshine or shine is still not legal here but you are legally allowed to make your own as long as you don't sell it.
Everything else, including whiskey, gin and other "hard" liquors are only sold in "state" run liquor stores located everywhere in the cities.
Thanks for your visit to my blog.
No, I am not able to shovel snow or to do much of anything out of doors in the winter.
I quit smoking in 1996 on March 11th., (today, but 11 years ago)and have not smoked since.
I had smoked about 47 years until then so I really screwed up my lungs and heart and arteries.
I am short of breath most of the time as I have emphysema and I also have asthma. The lung doctors and heart doctors said my problems won't get any worse since I stopped smoking and that it would take 10 years to get it out of my system.
So it is 11 years now. It is as good as it is going to get but that isn't anywhere near 100 percent.
I have had to learn how to live a different kind of life. And working hard like I used to love to do is now out of the question.
Sorry about such a long post.
The Jackson metro area is made up of a few different counties and many of them are dry. So we also have some convoluted regulations on which restaurants can serve beer and spirits and when they can. And there are absolutely no liquor stores in the dry counties.
Luckily I live in Madison which is wet, so I don't have to worry about it too much. :D
The movies would lead us to believe that Tennessee has a history of liquor law violations. That a moonshine still once existed on every mountain top. So maybe the current laws are an overreaction to these past impressions ... personally I was very pleased when my hometown recently voted to allow the sell of beer and wine on Sundays.
Nice shot.
I should have added this but somehow forgot.
FBI statistics show that states that prohibit sale of wine in groceries have a high incident of DUIs than states that allow grocers to sell wine (8.8 to 6.6, I believe).
While researching today's post, I saw an article that claims TN has the highest number of arrests for moonshining of all the states.
Gosh ... I'm no drunken but I like to have a glass of wine with some meals ... gee, but I guess going over there would be hard time ... how could I be able to bring some good old delicious Porto Wine?
I get the jitters when I read about such harsh restrictions. I suppose you see a lot of people carrying a bottle hidden in a paper bag around there, cause that what you get when only liquor stores can sell booze. These laws seem to be ruled by the pope! But anyways I am not the right person to judge since we have the other side of the coin here in Spain. Your wine picture is beautiful. Thanks for the detailed info.
Chris, what an attractive photo. I love the colors and light you captured. I was in the Bamboo Bar & Grill in West Seattle the other night and couldn't bring myself to photograph a similar scene behind the bar as I didn't want to bother those eating around us. Here, beer and wine at the grocery and restaurants, all other liquor in special state stores or licensed drinking/dining establishments. In California, liquor is available in grocery and convenience stores as well as beer and wine. I haven't heard of any moonshine though. . .they're into herbals out here, I think ;^).
Well, West Seattle Blog and SDP are in the grand final of the blog tournament. Of course they will win as they are just the best thing going in the city, but its fun to be in there with them.
-Kim
Seattle Daily Photo
-Kim
I love the play of the translucent colors in the bottles. Good eye, Chris.
Nice photo, Chris...and a very interesting post, too. I didn't know about a few of those facts.
Wow, didn't thought that people go thru all that to get a glass of wine, since its in vogue recently
Great light on the photo.
We have some stringent laws in Texas also, but maybe not as much as TN. Although we do have the no beer or wine before noon on Sunday, and no liquor at all on Sunday...
i really like the 'yn' name, it's very modern in this world of texting... from the owner's name, i'd think he might own a chicken place instead of yn... =)
The photos do look very appealing.
Your story reminds me when we moved to TX from MA and were looking for the liquor store. We were pointed to 'it's over there' and no matter what we could not find it. Turns out it was the ABC store. Well the ABC stores in Hungary were the grocery stores so you see the confusion. :)
Bottom line on these things is that you can't regulate morality.
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