Amen. I went to college in PA, 1982-1986. I wasn’t a big drinker even in college, and it was Philly, so I visited home (in NYC) fairly often and could take stuff back if I wanted to. But the situation was beyond ridiculous. In short, there were obvious Reasons why there was a (long) string of liquor stores just off the NJ Turnpike over the Ben Franklin bridge, and from what I was told, the same was true just over the border in Delaware…
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I moved from NJ, where I could buy beer and wine in my local Shop Rite on a Sunday before I moved to PA, where I had to go to at least 2 places to get beer and wine during very restricted hours and DEFINITELY not on Sundays.
THEN I moved to MA where there was no alcohol sales on Sundays until they realized they were losing a LOT of revenue to NH, and opened up to stores within 15 miles of the border. Thankfully I lived closed enough to drive to those towns…and then MA opened up statewide on Sundays several years later. And look at that, MA blue laws! We didn’t spontaneously combust from buying and drinking on Sundays!
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Yeah, no wine/liquor on Sunday was the last vestige of Blue Laws in NYS (or maybe just NYC - I don’t know much about the other counties) even now, they still can’t open before noon on Sunday, just as one isn’t supposed to be able to buy beer - where it’s sold - before noon on Sunday…
) And although I think it had happened by the time I was ~ 25, it even took us a while to recognize that bank-issued “general” credit cards were different from "retail sales ‘on credit’ ", which I imagine are still forbidden (though irrelevant at this point, with store-based credit accounts being almost totally a Thing of the Ancient Past…)
Beer is still a separate license here, so liquor/wine stores can’t sell it (or non-alcoholic mixers, or any kind of food, and I’ve been told even ice), and grocery/food stores (which sell beer) can’t sell liquor or wine. (Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods do have liquor stores here, but they’re physically separate spaces from their food stores, and each chain can have/has only one in the entire state, because licensees are limited to one location-specific permit each…)
Oh, and bars and restaurants can’t sell alcohol for off-premises consumption at all, though in the not-too-distant past, they did change the law to allow customers to take home partially-consumed bottles, if they’re re-sealed using a fairly complicated process - and I have no idea how far that was ever actually adopted in practice…
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We lived in Harvard, MA in the 80’s. No grocery or liquor stores in that small town. New Hampshire wasn’t too far for us so we usually bought our booze there on Sunday if we needed some. Then the rules changed so that the towns within 15 miles of the NH border could open on Sundays and Ayer was right next door. Then, as you said, it just kept rolling south. It used to be that liquor stores could be open in MA on Sundays Thanksgiving through New Years, as I recall, as long as the local authorities approved of it.
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So weird that I don’t remember that, I guess I’d moved on by the time I might have cared. I do remember some coveted fast food cashier position I snagged at 15 or 16 that was limited because I couldn’t sell alcohol.
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I’m 6 ’ 8 " . I’m asked this a lot . Grocery stores think about it . I am expensive and worth it .
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Spent about a week in Pittsburgh area in 1981 for a relative’s wedding, and remember having to go to a beer barn or someplace like that for Rolling Rock.
I can only say, if the liquor laws are weird/strict in parts of the East, try spending some time in Utah. Everything except for 3.2% beer has to be bought in the state liquor stores, which are always closed on Sunday and for every weird holiday you can imagine, even Arbor Day! Also, alcohol is strictly metered, no doubles, and no mixed drink can contain more than 1.5 ounces of alcohol total. Even in resorts. This is statewide, and Utah is a fairly big state.
Also strange in certain counties in midwestern and Bible Belt states - some are totally dry! Then there’s Dodge City, Kansas, where you can order drive through, to go cocktails, or you could at one time. Things may have changed by now though. Hawaii, surprisingly, has fairly strict laws considering they rely so heavily on tourism.
Very liberal laws here in Wa state now, but that wasn’t always the case.
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Like @kobuta, I’m only 4’11- I may be as tall as 5’1 if I’m wearing Dansko clogs or a lowish heeled sandal. I will ask a tall person for help, if there’s someone around, or, I’ll resort to climbing, or carefully trying to knock something down, if it’s in a box. The dairy case can be challenging at times. I’ve always been very graciously helped, without fail, which I so appreciate.
I always ask folks on mobility scooters if they need help, if I see them trying to get something out of their reach. Also, due to my heightened awareness of vision problems, due to having a dad that’s legally blind from macular degeneration, I’ll offer to help people find stuff, if they seem to be struggling. Both situations require diplomacy and tact, however…I’m always very nice about it when the young check out boys treat me like I’m frail and need help with lugging groceries to the car, and tell them I’m actually very strong and work out at the gym. 
However, that was then; haven’t even been to the grocery since before Xmas. I just LOVE getting old. NOT!! 
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Yes, I do the climbing thing too (5’2"). Often there is no one around to help. One time I was trying to get some can’s of Sacramento tomato juice - the 6 pack of small cans - off a top shelf and didn’t realize they were stacked on on top of the other. So, you guessed it, one of the packs came down on my head. Funny how people showed up to help then! I was fine - just really pissed!
10am. Since 2016. I feel like we’ve had this exchange before.
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I don’t think so. I’ve never been much of a “bruncher” (and on weekends, I wouldn’t dream of going for “brunch” at the ungodly hour of 10am anyway 
), so I actually didn’t realize one couldn’t get a complimentary mimosa before noon, either. I thought it was just retail sales that were forbidden before noon, and I don’t think that’s changed?
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Yesterday I was setting up a “virtual” doctor appointment and they said they had an 815am available. Um, no.
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Liquor sales start at noon on Sunday; beer sales at 8am. Check out the .gov link I posted earlier.
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I could do “virtual” at 8:15AM (even on Saturday, in a pinch). “IRL” on the other hand…
Part of my trouble with “brunch” has always been that I see it as an excuse to be able to get “breakfast” food late, while - especially at “nicer” restaurants - it’s usually an excuse to serve lunch early. Why, no, I would not like a whole, briefly sauteed trout staring up at me from a plate at 10am on a Sunday morning… But thanks for asking!
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Yeah, used to have state run liquor stores closed on Sundays, now we have cocktails to go from restaurants!
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I know! Crazy, right? Good to see you posting @Babette! Enjoy the big storm - wild down here where I am.
ETA: if we keep going the way we are liquor wise, we’ll be like New Orleans soon, but with legal weed too. 
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At least you get live help. Since my local grocery store is a Stop & Shop, I would probably only get a visit by that creepy, beeping Marty robot, if a product fell on my head.
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Had to wait for a drawbridge on the way to work. Love it! Hopefully cool enough for chocolate tempering tomorrow.
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Our Krogers do not have one-way aisles. They are doing a huge number of the free pick-up orders, which means they have a small army of people shopping with gigantic multi-level shopping carts which seem to have made up for any obstructions they may have eliminated. One recent visit they teamed with a butcher, which meant I didn’t bother getting any meat there.
True! the “pickers” at the Kroger I shop at ignore the one-way aisles, and Social Distancing. They’re mostly Teens so I cut them a lot of slack…
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