Too soon to tell if people are buying more booze

State officials say they need at least three more months to determine if people are buying more booze since voters privatized liquor sales. But anecdotally, many of us are buying more.

“It’s right there in the section so I find myself instead of going and getting it for a special occasion I just keep restocking it as soon as the bottle’s empty I put it on the list right next to toilet paper and butter,” says co-host Dan Restione.

The Washington State Department of Revenue reported Monday that liquor sales declined slightly in June compared with the same period last year as people stocked up ahead of privatization.

But with spirits for sale now in grocery stores, co-host Bill Radke says he’s treating it a lot more like other groceries.

“It’s like milk,” Radke says. “So now instead of once every once in awhile, we fill it back up when we get our mango.”

Washington will need at least three more months to identify long-term trends resulting from Initiative 1183, the Washington state Department of Revenue said Monday.

Voters approved the measure last fall, allowing retail stores to sell liquor and kicking the state out of a business it has tightly controlled since the end of Prohibition. Consumers began buying directly from retailers on June 1.

A big question remains whether higher prices will impact sales at all. The initiative imposed additional fees on spirits to reimburse the state for millions of dollars in lost revenue.

The Associated Press contributed to this report