Click for liquor: ABC stores could sell online under House bill

House Bill 890, which passed by a margin of 100-10 and now heads to the Senate, also would loosen rules for drinking at college games, growler sizes and distilleries.

Currently, ABC shoppers can look online to see if a store has a particular product. But they have to go to that store in person to buy it.

Sen. Mike Woodard, D-Durham, a co-sponsor of a similar bill in the Senate, said that doesn't always work out. He said he's gone looking before for popular items his local store either didn't stock or was sold out of.

"So, the clerk there has to call to find it another store, or I can go look online. But oftentimes, if I find that there are two or three bottles left, I may drive across town only to find that they've since been sold," Woodard said.

With online sales, he said, "I'd be able to buy it right there, and then I don't run the risk of losing that product, particularly on very popular products that sell out fast or specialty products that our store may not get."

Under the House version of the bill, the person who placed the online order would have to go pick it up, so they could show the clerk their ID. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 453 would allow anyone of age to pick up the order, but it would also require a local ordinance approving online sales before they could begin.

Woodard said the pandemic has made people more reliant than ever on online shopping, so it just makes sense to let them shop for liquor online, too.

"It's just a lot easier to do, but the technology is also there," Woodard said. "In so many ways, our ABC laws have not kept up with modernized technology. We'd like to continue to modernize this and some of the other practices of ABC stores as well."

The House bill also would allow vendors at college sporting events to sell customers two beers or glasses of wine at a time, rather than the current limit of one per customer. That change would take effect in July.

Another section of the House bill would allow the state's craft distilleries to be open and sell liquor on Sundays and some holidays. They would no longer be required to make customers take a tour of the distillery before selling them a bottle. And they could ship direct to out-of-state customers in states where that's allowed.

There's good news in the House bill for craft beer fans, too: the House bill would double the maximum allowed size for a growler from two liters to four, which is about a gallon.

The bill still has to pass the Senate, where the Senate's version was removed from the calendar Thursday. That may or may not signal trouble for the House bill.

Pat Ryan, spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, said the Senate Republican caucus had not had enough time to discuss Senate Bill 453, so they pulled it from the agenda.

"There will be future opportunities to insert the language into a bill if that’s what the caucus decides to do." Ryan said.