Extended Pacific Northwest → Re: [WA] what will happen with the state owned liquor stores?

All I know is that Safeway is advertising a fifth of smirnoff for ten bucks.

Really, even if prices are higher, this is a net positive for the state (as in a community, not a business): private industry is private industry once again.

All I know is that Safeway is advertising a fifth of smirnoff for ten bucks.

Really, even if prices are higher, this is a net positive for the state (as in a community, not a business): private industry is private industry once again.

At first glance, the 750-ml. bottle of Absolut vodka for $20 at Fred Meyer in Seattle looks like a good deal. It’s $3 less than the day before, when the only place you could get a bottle of booze was in a government-run liquor store.

But tack on some hefty taxes, and that bottle of vodka is actually almost $27. That’s 17 percent more than what the state had charged, before Initiative 1183 takes effect Friday. ...

One noticeable change is advertising. Before, in Washington’s no-frills liquor stores, the shelf price was the cash register price. All taxes and fees were rolled into that price.

Now, retailers are free to advertise alluringly low prices, get you in their stores and then hit you with the sting of a $3.77 liter tax and 20.5 percent spirits tax at checkout.

Now, retailers are free to advertise alluringly low prices, get you in their stores and then hit you with the sting of a $3.77 liter tax and 20.5 percent spirits tax at checkout