You may think alcohol is alcohol, whether from a craft shop, a liquor store, a bar or a restaurant, but it's not that simple.
Before COVID-19, people selling alcohol were in their own, highly-restricted lanes. If you wanted a pizza and a beer, you could meet in a bar or restaurant that sells food and drink.
COVID changed all of that, with Albany allowing restaurants to sell take-out food and take-out liquor for the duration of the pandemic. Now it's permanent, under the new state budget.
"Game-changer for almost everybody," said Jimmy Butera, owner of Butera's Craft Beer & Craft Pizza Restaurant Brew House in the center of the Village of Hamburg. "The fact that there's so many restrictions for so long, that was tough for a lot of restaurants to deal with, for us included. Being able to do take-out alcohol is something that can help, today."
In Niagara Falls, however, Sonny from Hyde Park Liquor said "wait a minute."
"I don't think it's fair," Sonny said, "if you are going to limit liquor stores to just liquor and you're basically not going to have the same limit on another type of business, such as a restaurant."
Under legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, there is a key restriction. You can buy booze-to-go in a restaurant, but you have to buy food with it. That's a throwback to the old days of buying a drink in New York. There had to be food available, even if the food was so old it was mummified.
Sonny said there has to be some fairness. If restaurants can sell alcohol, liquor stores should have to option to sell products like ice, which they can't now.
"They should open it up," he said. "You can't just pick and choose: 'Hey, we're going to prioritize this business over this other business.' I think if you're going to open things up for one business, I think it should be across the board."
Butera said there looks to be some light in the sky for his businesses and others.
"Running and operating a business pre-COVID has been good. During COVID, it's been very taxing and very stressful. Post-COVID, it's too soon to tell, but things are looking better. Post-COVID, things are looking more promising."
That is certainly showing up in the crowds of bars and restaurants — not like the spring of 2019, but busier.
