Some people like their Starbucks with an extra shot of liquor if you know what I mean. I was personally a Dunkin’ guy until they changed my ideal flavors now I’m feeling friendly toward fresh brewed raspberry iced tea. Starbucks is playing around with liquor licensing in selected markets and this may be a future trend to beat in the ever present coffee wars.
My local town of Needham, MA may be a “dry” town in which they don’t allow the sale of liquor, beer, or wine in a store. Why, I have no idea? You actually have to travel to a surrounding town and conduct your wine, beer and spirit shopping. I would suggest to the town of Needham that they banish this outdated law in an effort to save the noble township in added horsepower fossil fuel and time oriented logistical expenses. After all, the people of Needham must be protected.
Liquor stores are one of most commonly sold businesses in Massachusetts. As Massachusetts residents they also don’t want us to buy any alcohol via the internet because they don’t allow it to be shipped. Not like the TSA airport three ounce rule but in select states. Did you know some pilots are cleared by the FAA to use the IPAD during the flight as they contain the necessary information to run the plane? And I can’t play “Words with Friends” with my fellow union member Alec while we are waiting for take- off?
As long as everyone drives safely I’m a happy camper. Please don’t hit me when the MBTA closes before the bars let out. I mean I’m sure some lives might actually be saved if the T remained open and offered one train an hour the way NYC subway slows down during off peak times, but that’s too damn logical.
Needham, does allow beer and wine in restaurants to sell to you, at much higher cost. I know of one restaurant called, “Basil”, where you are allowed to bring your own bottle of wine. However, this strange dry decision has made one of the local Chinese area restaurants into an unofficial sports bar once they added the big screen TV, which happens to be located walking distance to the police station. Where do Needham’s finest go to wind down?
When I was in high school we used to pretend to act like adults in the Chinese Restaurants to get our illegal “cold tea.” That was a code word for beer. I know this because I was so sneaky. In fact when the 2AM bars go down in Boston other sneaky college kids can always continue onward in China Town or one of the growing trendy private clubs if you are a member of course. Shhh…Don’t tell?
I always remember the scorpion bowls of when I was a camp counselor because there was absolutely nothing to do at night in the middle of the woods of New Hampshire. The Chinese Restaurant was our personal oasis of city life, 3 to 5 miles east of pond nowhere or else we actually had a drink in the woods with a small fire to sit near.
So, will the market trend of Starbucks turning into an all hours bar affect my local market? I would have to say no. My bet remains with the full service restaurants that will eventually start club bottle service, with a lounge vibe, in the middle of a so called “dry” town, which we will call a “pizza” shop, in a newly slated hotel, that has "lights out" yelled by counselors, as all campers settle in for bed at 2am in line with the rest of Boston.
Prepared by Ken Kansky of Zibiza.com
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