Forget California, where I could decide to make Coq au Vin and pick up the chicken, onions, mushrooms and wine at the same grocery. No, this is Utah, which is more draconian than New York State’s Alcoholic Beverage Control laws beginning with the sentence after Prohibition.
I lived in Orem for six weeks several years ago where I finally found the “State Store” bereft at the north edge of town. Provo had one as well, hidden downtown off the beaten path. As of yesterday, five State Stores are set to be eliminated because of budget cuts. But wait! Those five stores cost $2 million a year to operate but provide the State $1 million per year in unfettered revenue. Why is the State turning away $1 million a year in revenue (according to the local news)? My guess is that the LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons) wants them to.
When we arrived at SLC airport with luggage and dog in tow, we headed for Orem and a hastily-constructed corporate apartment. We arrived at nearly midnight on Saturday. There was no toilet paper. We hastily returned to the corner gas station and got tp, juice, cereal and milk. After breakfast Sunday morning we ventured out to stock the place with staples. The grocery stores were closed. The restaurants were closed. Even the one McDonalds was closed! We were hungry and didn’t know where to go.
So we headed south to Provo and found a mall. It was open. It had a Red Robin (I’ve never been happier to see a Red Robin) AND a movie theater! That was our Sunday routine for six weeks, and I learned to do my grocery shopping during the week. I will never live in Orem, UT again because I was an outsider and as such, unwelcome. Methinks the State Store on the edge of town is used by outcasts, heathens like me, and therefore they want it closed.
Living in heathen-land now, one State Store here has the best wine selection in the State of Utah (not saying much). One customer asked if they had any cold beer. The response was a curt “no.” But then the checker said to another “Can you believe he wants us to stock COLD beer? Do they know how much that would cost us?”
They close for holidays, Sundays, and election days. Say there’s a line two days before New Years’ Eve, when people are having parties and there are lines throughout the store. They will not open a new register. One delivery day per week, same goods no matter what the public wants. Once before Thanksgiving one person was there on delivery day and bought every bottle of the wine I like. When I asked if they didn’t get the shipment, they told me what happened and said, regarding the woman who bought out the shipment “that should be illegal!”
If a wine merchant anywhere else in the US knew the holidays were coming up, he’d order more product (same as a grocery store and turkeys and canned pumpkin). When the government runs a business, it should run it like a business, not close down stores that generate revenue because of religious pressure.
Instead of seeing countless LDS “ward” churches, where we live there are two distinctly beautiful structures built directly across the street from each other. One is a Roman Catholic church, the other a Jewish Temple. I prefer to live in a more diverse society, preferably one in which I can decide to make coq au vin on a Sunday. Cheers! Dee
Cooking with Dee 