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Brighton market gets in trouble after somebody drops a dime on a tweet
By adamg on Tue, 05/29/2018 - 11:20am
Damn, someone getting lit tonight... pic.twitter.com/oKabOs1z4a
— Only In Boston (@OnlyInBOS) March 28, 2018
On March 28, the owners of Quality Market, 150 North Beacon St., learned it's illegal to transport more than 20 gallons of adult beverages in your own vehicle after somebody alerted BPD to the above tweet and two detectives decided to conduct a snap inspection.
Sgt. Det. Robert Mulvey told the Boston Licensing Board this morning that an employee of the Kapoor brothers, who own both the market and the nearby Quality Liquors on Cambridge Street, had one of their workers use a Ford Explorer to move a number of 30 packs of Corona, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Modelo beer, among other brands, from the liquor store to the market, which also has a packie license, in violation of a state law that limits movements of more than 20 gallons of alcohol to vehicles owned by liquor distributors.
An attorney for the brothers said the market had run out of beer and that they were unaware of the state law when they had their worker move the beer. He said they were "deeply apologetic" and that it wouldn't happen again.
The market was also cited for violating a section of the state law that bars "transfer of stock between two retail package stores," even if the same family owns both.
"It is troubling," board member Keeana Saxon said, adding she hopes the two stores haven't been exchanging a lot of alcohol like that in the past.
The board decides Thursday what action, if any, to take.
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Comments
"It is troubling," board member Keeana Saxon
I agree; people transporting private property in their own vehicles without State oversight when both of their businesses are properly licensed - hope they get the death penalty.
/sarcasm
Agree. This is spectacularly untroubling.
Wonder if the dime-dropper is a competing liquor store owner who would be just as happy to be relieved from that law as well.
Great work, BPD!
Great work, BPD!
(Meanwhile, 2/3rds of the city's murderers are never caught.)
There are roughly 1,200 people in BPD
Three of them work in the licensing unit.
2 too many
it seems like
One has to wonder....
if Bauer Wine would be subject to this scrutiny...?
Distributor
Bauer Wine is a distributor.
Oh, then there's a different
Bauer Wine on Newbury Street that's been a retail shop for as long as I remember? That was someone else giving wine tips on WFNX or WBCN or whatever, I can't remember? Not Howie?
Let Me Get This Straight (In My Best Colombo Voice)
You mean you cannot move more than 9 cases of beer in your own car and that I have to call a special service for it?
I hosted a wedding in my back yard a few years ago. 100+ guests. It was a great day. I'm sure there was a maybe combined total of 20 gallons of beer and wine in my car when I got back from the store. I was violating the law? Jesus, My buddies from college should have been shot with the amount of kegs we moved to the Cape one spring Sunday.
The quote above from the board member says "It's Troubling" Yes, it is troubling that we are legalizing the devil's lettuce while people are still getting picked up for having it, yet it is ok to grow it and towns are encouraging growers to come in, especially in Red parts of the state, and it is troubling that this nincompoop vestige of the days of government control benefitting a selct few companies still being in place.
"America, Prohibition, bah!" - Barry Fitzgerald in the Quiet Man.
Yep
Yep I get your entire point. it's silly.
I think the point of this isn't to go after someone like you. But someone like this guy. A liquor store not using a distributor to get its goods it resells.
Distributors Own the System
I would love to see an initiative petition undo that system. Very corrupt, very wrong, not protecting the interest of consumers or public safety.
They are taxed a certain way.
These laws were made a few hundred years ago I believe and have to do with taxing alcohol.
You can get permits for transporting alcohol for all sorts of reasons though. Caterers, temporary pouring licences, Keg parties, etc all have special permits you can get for pretty cheap I believe.
BZZZZT!
Marsha Croakely held up the implementation of a very clearly written law for years at the behest of distributors who whined about internet sales.
The distributors own the game and are NOT willing to play fair.
Look at what happened to Nashoba Winery? Distributor lobbyist takes over the ABCC and punishes them for not "playing the game" by changing the terms of licenses they had for 16 years.
Ditto for Night Shift, which formed its own distributorship and distributes microbrew because the existing distributors wanted bribes and were squeezing out small fry. Then the distributors fought Night Shift becoming a distributor.
Ditto for paying for tap space.
The list of abuses goes on and on. Don't you dare play the stupid little "oh it's just about taxes" and "100 years ago" game. It makes you look stupid at best, ignorant perhaps, but overall part of the corruption and lies told by the industry.
Picked up?
"we are legalizing the devil's lettuce while people are still getting picked up for having it"
If you're carrying an ounce or less you haven't faced arrest since the ballot question was certified in December of 2016. You're allowed up to ten ounces in your home.
Tell that to black people.
Tell that to black people.
100% with you, BUT do you
100% with you, BUT do you have some evidence of someone of color being improperly charged under the new law?
Rolled joints
Having rolled joints = "packaged for distribution" if you are Black.
Another dumb alcohol law.
Another dumb alcohol law. Visit certain breweries in MA or VT and you'll see people buying more than 20 gallons of beer. And the best part? Many of the popular craft breweries self distribute so the useless and corrupt alcohol distributors don't get a cut.
Ssh ...
The law's been used to go after people buying stuff at New Hampshire state liquor stores.
Yeah, sure
Going after markets that get stock from NH Liquor Stores I could see.
Going after people holding a big party? Not so much.
5 Weeks Until July 4th
We always get the great, deeply researched piece from the tv stations that shows a Statie standing on Route 1 at the Seabrook / Salisbury border or along Route 28 at the Methuen / Salem border looking for fireworks being smuggled across the line. Sometimes the shot of the trooper peering through binoculars is shown for emphasis.
New Jersey and Delaware, like Massachusetts are the only states to ban personal fireworks absolutely. New Jersey and Delaware presumably so no one accidently blows up all of the chemical plants and oil refineries that dot those lovely states. Massachusetts? No fun allowed.
Here is a helpful map of where the fireworks stores are in NH. Notice how outdated our laws might be on this subject based on where the free market focuses their stores?
https://www.google.com/search?q=nh+fireworks+stores&npsic=0&rflfq=1&rlha...
Easier way to "smuggle"
There are at least three stores within a quarter mile of each border crossing (or so it seems).
Park the car in Massachusetts - like at a meter in Salisbury. Pull out a bike and saddle bags.
Bike to NH and load up, maybe bike up to Seabrook State Park before doubling back.
Oh, and don't be a dumbass when you use them: bring water to wet the launch site. Have a fire extinguisher handy. Don't light them off in the woods where there are dry leaves. Etc. Pay attention to conditions so you aren't THAT dumbass who goes hiking during extreme fire danger and ends up running a $36 million restitution tab.
In addition to water and a fire extinguisher...
... you might consider pencil, paper, and an English-Chinese dictionary to help you write a nice letter of condolence to the child laborers who have lost fingers, eyes, hands, and siblings in the factories where they make fireworks.
California,
in the depth of the worst drought in a century, when the entire state was a tinderbox, allowed limited sale of fireworks for personal use. The decision was made at the town/city level, not the state level.
When I saw it, I thought it was painfully stupid, but there you go. Still legal, when there was a very valid reason for it not to be.
Clearly a protectionist law
To protect the liquor distributors. It's crazy that two stores with the same ownership can't transfer some stock on their own. It's not like they can't just make more trips with the van less full next time.
Or use a lot of brown paper
Or use a lot of brown paper bags.
Yeah, just like the car
Yeah, just like the car dealership service law, this one exists solely to keep the distributors in business.
Don't f with the liquor distributors
They have a bought and paid member of the Deleo leadership Cabal on their payroll, Mike Moran of Brighton.
Register to vote please students and maybe you can have a progressive rep in your neighborhood.
30 packs of Corona?
I used to work at a liquor store where the owner owned multiple stores. On a daily basis we would load up a van and from the main store and deliver to the others. No idea it wasn't legal as it seemed like his business model. Get a discount for buying in bulk and then distribute to other stores. I think there was an understanding with the distributors as they were still getting their sales in and only had to make 1 delivery. It wasn't with everything but when they offered bulk deals or incentives he always took them.
Kegs a lot
Looks like you'd be WAY over the limit if you put two 1/2 kegs in your car (each is 15.5 gallons.) How completely silly.
Which incidentally is why
Which incidentally is why liquor stores only sell you 1 at a time.
On a side note
F'n end the ban on Happy Hour already.
What's more troubling is
What's more troubling is there's a law this stupid that exists, a board that enforces it and the quote you get is "It's troubling." These are the kind of regulations that stifle business.
Looks like two violations
In addition to moving too much liquor without a distribution permit, I don't think that the lateral transfer of alcoholic beverages from one retailer to another is allowed at all. This would have been a violation even if it was just one six-pack. Only distributors (the middle tier in the three-tier system) can transfer product to retailers. Every now and then you read about a restaurant being busted for stocking up their bar from a nearby liquor store, on the same theory.
(Not defending the system, but I believe that's the current state of the law)
Thanks for mentioning that
The citation was actually for two things - one for the 20 gallons, the other for the "transfer of stock between two retail package stores." I'll add that to the story.
Transfer of stock?
Sounds like a total reach when the stores are owned by the same entity and licensed by the same agency.
Wait, so if I ran a
Wait, so if I ran a restaurant, and ran out of a certain beer, it would be illegal to just run down to a packie and pick up a case of it?
That's insane.
Yes
Yes, that's illegal. It probably is insane, but that's the three-tier system for you.
(Just for the benefit of UHub, I just skimmed the past year's worth of ABCC decisions, and did not find a violation of this, although I have seen them in the past. Mostly I learned that there's a lot of (illegal) video poker in VFW halls and similar and was reminded that underage drinkers have terrible taste. Also, always file your liquor license renewal even if you're in the middle of some kind of fight with the city or the ABCC.)
Here's one
A sports bar was found to have violated this, when an employee was drinking beer on the job and covering it up by replacing the bottles he drank with ones purchased from a package store.
https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/11/bbr/everett-p-and-m-corp-db...
And a more straightforward one
The former Castillo nightclub in Everett was buying a bunch of their liquor from package stores (and then lying about it and removing shipping labels to try to conceal having done so).
https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/08/bbq/everett-2003-nico-enter...
different address
One minor thing. Quality market is at 140 North Beacon Street, not North Market street
Fixed
Thanks!
MGL 138 s. 22
1 Gallon of Alcohol
3 Gallons of other Alcoholic Beverage
20 Gallons of Malt Beverage.
Basically if you have 4 Gallons of wine in your car you can be arrested.
Section 22. Any person may, but only for his own use and that of his family and guests, transport alcoholic beverages or alcohol, without any license or permit, but not exceeding in amount, at any one time, twenty gallons of malt beverages, three gallons of any other alcoholic beverage, or one gallon of alcohol, or their measured equivalent; provided, that any person may, without any license or permit, transport from his place of residence to a new place of residence established by him alcoholic beverages manufactured by him for his own private use..........
*Peter Griffin voice*.....
"Oh. My. Gawd. Who the hell cares?" On another note, dropping dimes=serious party foul.
Follow the $. Liquor distribution laws are all about taxes.
I'm not a fan of burdensome taxes and regulations but this case is no different because the liquor store and convenience store are owned by the same people. Each store is a separate entity and likely a separate corporation or LLC. With huge volume discounts and rebates offered by the distributors, if Quality Liquors buys all of the liquor for both stores and sends some over to Quality Market in a private SUV, they would be getting a much better deal than if both stores were ordering separately. This is why the larger liquor stores can offer certain brands at $19.99 while the mom and pop store down the street needs to get $24.99 for the same bottle. The lower sales price means less tax revenue for the state.
The NH tax free liquor stores have always been an issue for nearby states when retailers travel there to stock up, see this article from March.
I believe the DOR and ABCC also monitor the distributor sales reports for each liquor store, bar and restaurant, then base sting operations on places that appear to be selling but not buying a lot of liquor.
The laws are all about the distributors
It may be about the $, if you mean the $$$ the distributors pay their state reps and lobbyists. Pure and simple. The laws are written by the distributors, for the distributors, and passed by your state reps. The binding distribution agreements brewers have to make with distributors are a perfect example of this.
Observed by one who was in the industry years ago.
Laws should not be written by lawyers
Nor passed by politicians in the northern version of Louisiana. But then are there any states where politicians manage to not become the prostitutes of the economic supporters?
But then direct democracy can easily lead to mob rule (i.e., Trump).
Don't know the answer but the problem is obvious. Laws are passed for those who can buy the laws. That was true before Citizen's United and is ever more true today.
Seriously?
Umm.. who else? Auto mechanics? Anesthesiologists? Barbers?
You don't need a law degree to write a piece of legislation
that usually begins with "Notwithstanding any general or special law, regulation, rule, or ordinance to the contrary, ......." - this is politician's code for "I'm looking to give advantage to a special interest."
Trump is not a product of direct democracy
Trump is not a product of direct democracy. He lost the direct vote of the people. He is the result of indirect democracy, like George W. Bush.
So, personally I am amazed
So, personally I am amazed that the surprise inspection didn't turn up anyone brown bagging and playing Keno, but *shrug*
Law is dumb. 100%.
Which rent-seeking slimes got
Which rent-seeking slimes got this law passed? Licensed distributors?