Colorado Springs liquor stores see impact one month after full-strength beer law takes affect

It’s been a month since full-strength beer hit the shelves at grocery stores across Colorado, potentially taking business away from local liquor stores and Super Bowl weekend could be a huge test.

For Sean Robinson, being the manager at Old Colorado City Liquor means building a relationship with the customers.

“Pick up on stuff going on in their lives — their son in college whatever it happens to be. It means a lot to people that you remember those little things,” Robinson said.

It’s that kind of exchange he says you can’t get at the grocery store. As of January 1, the 3.2 law is over with. You can now shop the aisles and grab your full-strength beer.

But that just means the competition between grocery and liquor stores is heating up.

“We’re friends with these customers. We can help them pick out stuff better whereas at a larger grocery store there won’t be anyone really there to help you choose what beer you want,” Robinson said.

Though so far he says he can’t see much of a financial difference.

“The start of the year is always the slowest. We get a little bit of a bump with the Super Bowl so we’ll see how that goes this weekend but on the whole the first two months are slow,” Robinson said.

Besides customer service, he says his store offers a bigger and better variety.

“Those big places will have some craft beer, but they will never have as much as we have,” Robinson said.

On the contrary, grocery stores say they’re cashing in on the law.

“This is a great opportunity for us to offer customers what they like and allow them to make additional purchases,” said Andrew Fournier with Safeway.

Robinson says the only thing he can hope for is his customer’s loyalty.

He tells KRDO he expects to see the true financial impacts over the summer when tourists hit the city, but he hopes the first month of the new law doesn’t predict the rest of the year.