In less than a month, you’ll be able to walk into a grocery or convenience store in Kansas and buy full-strength beer.
That may sound simple. But it’s a sweeping change for Kansas, one of the last states to sanction such sales.
The state held tight to Prohibition for decades and has allowed liquor stores to exercise near-total dominance over the retail sale of alcohol since then.
Beginning April 1, liquor stores will lose part of that control. Some fear — and others hope — that the changes won’t stop with strong beer. Legislators changed the law only after years of campaigning by grocery and convenience stores for expanded sales. Liquor stores mounted intense opposition before the sides reached a compromise in 2017.
The law allows convenience and grocery stores to begin selling beer with up to 6 percent alcohol by volume on April 1. Now, the stores can sell beer with 3.2 percent alcohol by weight.
The law also enables liquor stores to sell non-alcoholic products as long as they don’t exceed 20 percent of gross sales, though tobacco and lottery tickets would be excluded from the total.
(Read more: Government & Politics News |)