I encountered an astonishing experience of overt racism the other day

[mnhtnbb]

when I stopped in to an ABC store (controlled liquor sales by the state of North Carolina) that is not far from where I now live
in downtown Raleigh.

I have lived in North Carolina for almost 18 years. Done my share of shopping in ABC stores--mostly in Orange County where I used
to live and the location of UNC-Chapel Hill or at the beach--always able to go in and browse the aisles. Look at different brands, prices, etc.

This ABC store--located in eastern downtown Raleigh--was set up with ALL the merchandise on rows of shelves BEHIND the counter. No ability to browse the aisles. Guess what? I was the only white person in the store--it was 6 pm--and there was a steady stream of black customers stopping by to make a purchase. I couldn't believe it. The only reason that store is set up that way has to be due to stereotype of its customer base. They had no ability to compare prices of different brands. Just tell the clerk what you want and pay at the counter.

No one was allowed behind the counter to browse the merchandise. No one.

There is another ABC store about the same distance the other direction from where I live and in a trendy downtown area. I suspect it will be set up without restriction on browsing the aisles. Think I'll stop by and take a look next week.

[Binkie The Clown]

1. You can't call it racism until you can show it was NOT due to unaccepatble levels of shoplifting.

Just saying, you're jumping to a conclusion not based on verifiable objective facts. Your conclusion is, itself, a form of prejudice.

[PatentlyDemocratic]

4. Agreed

Shoplifting is the most logical reason for the security.

[LisaM]

2. I don't know the area, but I know our downtown (Seattle) Target keeps its small liquor bottles

behind the counter, and I suspect it has to do with shoplifting statistics, not race (not that they couldn't be making overt assumptions about shoplifting based on race). I'd say over 90% of the people in that store are white.

Our Target has mainly foot traffic and there are lots of homeless people downtown and I'm assuming that they either moved the bottles because of shoplifting, or based it on stats they already had in place (I can't remember if it was that way ever since the store opened or if it was a change).

[dameatball]

3. Some places are like that. Not sure why.

I was in Richmond on business for a few days several years ago, stayed downtown. I stopped at a liquor store a mile or two away and the setup was the same as you described. Both of the store employees that were working were black. The store was in an area sort of part minority, part white and part college student. I don't know why it was set up that way and did not ask. However, it was kind of awkward. Fortunately I was just there looking for some Grey Goose, so it wasn't that difficult.

[appleannie1943]

5. They probably have the liquor behind the counter for the same reason jewelry stores put their

merchandise in locked cases. It has nothing to do with racism. It has to do with theft problems.

When I owned my own shop there were certain things I kept out of sight behind the counter and only showed them on request because of them having a tendency to walk out the door.

[mnhtnbb]

6. Right. Because people in predominantly white neighborhoods don't steal liquor.

Certainly college students never steal liquor (or there would be the same set-up in every ABC store in Chapel Hill where I lived).

[appleannie1943]

7. I live in a rural, all white area. I still had to keep certain things out of reach of the public.

It was white people, mainly Christian white people, that always stole the baby out of the manger and the doves out of angels hands and one time the shepherds out of the 9 nativity scenes on the shelf for sale.. In this area liquor is not the thing that people steal, it is religious items.

[Aristus]

8. Our Safeway in Puyallup has the hard liquor bottles accessible for browsing.

It's pretty white out here in the suburbs.

The Safeway on Hilltop in Tacoma has the hard liquor bottles locked in a glass cabinet, and you get the cashier to get what you want out of it.

Needless to say, Hilltop has a lot of minority customers.

I witnessed acts of shoplifting in both stores, by the way.

[B2G]

9. I live in NC.

My husband manages an ABC store. How is it even possible to get all of the liquor behind the counter?? These are not small stores.

[mnhtnbb]

11. It was a long, narrow store. Counters across the narrow width of the store and rows of shelves

lengthwise perpendicular to the counters. Three cash registers at the counters and two clerks working at 6 pm on a Tuesday night.

This was one of the smaller ABC stores I have been in.

[EffieBlack]

10. It may not be racism so much as a problem with shoplifting

It’s not uncommon for stores in heavily populated areas to be set up this way.

Of course, it very well could be racism - and you know your community better than I do - but that wouldn’t necessarily be my first assumption.

That said, I’m really glad you’re sensitive to the possibility and are willing to speak up if you thank that’s what’s going on.

[mnhtnbb]

12. I have never seen another ABC store set up this way.

None of the ABC stores in Orange County (heavily Democratic, home to UNC Chapel Hill, so lots of college students) that I had
been in were set up this way. None of the ABC stores in beach counties have been set up this way.

I am curious to go take a look at the ABC store that is about an equal distance the other direction from my apartment-- in a trendy area, near NC State
University-- to see if it will have restricted access.

I suspect it's not all about shoplifting and more about racial profiling.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Here in PA, we have "State Stores"

or as they re-branded them - "Wine and Spirits Shoppes".

ALL liquor is regulated by the state (including beer, but under different rules) and is only available in these stores (beer has designated "beer distributors" although 6-packs could be sold in certain convenience stores)... until recently, when, after 100+ years, wines and beer are now permitted in designated supermarkets (but hard liquor is still in state-run stores).

Before they renovated the stores for the branding, depending on what neighborhood you were in, you may have had a similar setup as what you indicated and including bullet proof glass (which is also something that Post Offices in some neighborhoods have at their retail locations for the clerks).

But one thing when it came to retail in general - the white neighborhood supermarkets allowed you to roll your shopping cart directly to your car. No such ability was available at supermarkets in black neighborhoods. And it didn't have to anything to do with income.