Year’s last call a boon for liquor stores

Drunken driving might be down, but holiday liquor sales are still up every year as people gather for Christmas and New Year’s celebrations.

December is the best month for sales in both Washington and Idaho, and as droves of people pack stores to purchase spirits and other drinks, liquor store staffers have to cope with the influx. With sagging budgets, officials struggle to maintain employee levels, said Craig Fairhurst, district manager for Spokane-area liquor stores.

In December 2004, Idaho liquor stores raked in $11.8 million, and December 2005 sales are expected to hit $13 million, said Ken Winkler, chief financial officer of the Idaho State Liquor Dispensary. No day-to-day figures are available in Idaho, he said.

Last year, about $40,000 more was collected in Washington for liquor sales during the two days before Christmas than during the two days before New Year’s, said Bob Burdick, a spokesman for the Washington State Liquor Control Board.

Neil Clark, a district manager in Idaho who oversees the three Coeur d’Alene liquor stores, said sales are higher before Christmas because of gift purchases. People bombard stores for the perfect holiday present.

And store budgets haven’t increased to allow owners to add employees, Fairhurst said.

“Sales rise 50 percent every year and staff levels stay the same,” he said. “But I’ve got a really veteran crew. This isn’t their first holiday season.”

And even though stores in Washington expect to take in nearly $600,000 in sales during the two days before the new year, experienced employees will recognize the revelers who are prohibited from buying alcohol – namely those who are underage or already intoxicated, Fairhurst said.

While Winkler expects Idaho liquor purchases to increase between 15 percent and 17 percent from last December, and Washington officials estimate a 10 percent increase, drunken driving is generally on the decline.

The Washington State Patrol, for instance, reported a drop in DUI arrests from 2004 to 2005. A 2003 study on drunken driving shows that in the last 30 years, significantly fewer young drivers are being pulled over for intoxication.

The research, done by two scientists at Boston University School of Public Health, looked at national roadside surveys conducted in 1973, 1986 and 1996. The results showed that, overall, the proportion of drivers who had been drinking decreased from 36 percent in 1973 to 17 percent in 1996.

The percentage of drivers under age 21 who had blood-alcohol contents of 0.10 or higher fell from 4.1 to 0.3 percent, representing the greatest proportional decline for any age group. Among 21- to 25-year-olds, the proportion of drivers with a blood-alcohol content of 0.10 percent or higher decreased from 5.7 percent to 3.8 percent.

Not that youth aren’t drinking, Fairhurst said.

According to statistics released a few weeks ago from the Century Council, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting drunken driving and underage drinking, about 65 percent of all underage drinkers acquire alcohol through friends and family. Fairhurst said his store managers – several of whom have 30-year careers in the business – will keep an eye out for underage groups and will also have the help of four hours of hired security on Saturday.

“I think at some of the stores,” Fairhurst said, “managers will have (security guards) stationed at the door carding people before they even get in.”