{"id":89978,"date":"2020-03-20T00:13:05","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T00:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/liquor-cannabis-sales-rise-as-covid-19-spreads\/"},"modified":"2020-03-20T00:13:05","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T00:13:05","slug":"liquor-cannabis-sales-rise-as-covid-19-spreads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/liquor-cannabis-sales-rise-as-covid-19-spreads\/","title":{"rendered":"Liquor, cannabis sales rise as COVID-19 spreads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Shoppers
Shoppers have been stocking up on booze and marijuana in preparation for what could be a lengthy self-quarantine.<\/span>Photo illustration courtesy of Dustin Bradford<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The run on toilet paper was weird enough, but now it\u2019s Everclear?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right, the high-potency alcohol has been flying off the shelves of liquor stores in Durango, according to interviews with businesses. But most people aren\u2019t buying it to drink \u2013 they\u2019re buying it to mix with aloe vera or other skin-soothing products for DIY hand sanitizer, store managers and employees said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all over Facebook,\u201d said Robert Payton, manager at Mac\u2019s Liquor on north Main Avenue. Liquor World near Albertsons had to limit customers to one 750 milliliter bottle as people tried to purchase mass quantities of high-potency liquor, said Benjamin Cockburn, an employee at the business.<\/p>\n

Mass purchasing has been a hallmark of the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Grocery store shelves have been cleared of canned goods and cleaning supplies as people prepare for recommended self-isolation or quarantine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re kind of reassuring customers that we\u2019re not really gonna run out,\u201d Cockburn said in an interview Thursday with The Durango Herald<\/em>. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen a lot of people buying bulk of a lot of things because of this (pandemic), other than the Everclear. We sold out of all of it really quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cannabis stores in Durango have also seen an increase in sales, according to calls to businesses in the area. While most declined to comment about the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on their businesses, at least four cannabis dispensaries contacted by telephone Thursday said more people have been buying more product.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of locals are stocking up, and we still have tourism going through,\u201d a budtender at The Green House \u2013 Durango, said. \u201cIt really comes down to people getting kind of scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Liquor
Liquor stores around Durango have reported an increase in sales after state and national emergency declarations related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Everclear and other high-potency alcohols are sold-out at most places as residents scramble to make hand sanitizer.<\/span>Rick Bowmer\/Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

People at liquor stores are stocking up, too, Payton said. Mac\u2019s Liquor manager said some customers have bought the store out of its stock of specific products. One customer spent over $100 on Pabst Blue Ribbon Extra, he said.<\/p>\n

Supply should not be an issue, but, then again, neither was finding toilet paper a few weeks ago, Payton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s toilet paper out there, but it\u2019s not here right this second,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like you can say, \u2018Send me six more semi loads.\u2019 Everything takes moments, that\u2019s what a lot of people don\u2019t realize.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liquor World reduced its hours and now closes at 8 p.m. rather than 11 p.m. Mac\u2019s Liquor has not shortened its hours, but management is considering it, Payton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing our very best to (monitor) the situation and stay as informed as we possibly can,\u201d he said. \u201cOur job is to serve the public \u2013 we\u2019re doing our very best to continue that.\u201d<\/p>\n

bhauff@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Customers buying mass quantities of high-potency alcohol to use for hand sanitizer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[924,685,28,135,29,1610],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-89978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-alcohol","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-headlines","tag-marijuana","tag-newsletter","tag-recreational-marijuana"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89978"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=89978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}