state store

Meanings

1. A liquor store selling wine and spirits (but not beer), run by an administrative board of the state government.

Etymology

So named because for many decades the state maintained a monopoly on the retail sale of bottled liquor and wine (i.e., as packaged goods, in contrast with those served in a glass at a bar or restaurant); those are the only consumer products that are sold in stores run by the state. Meanwhile, bottled and canned beer was long sold only by a dedicated class of merchants (called beer distributors). Today some grocery stores in the state sell wine and beer, but liquor (spirits) in particular remains a state monopoly at the state store.