THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190311
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Cathy Gilchrist rang up Virginia's first liquor sale inside a grocery store Monday - $16.25 for a half-gallon of, appropriately enough, Virginia Gentleman whiskey.
But the next few sales came slower, thanks to the glare of television lights, in the opening minutes for the Farm Fresh supermarket's new Alcoholic Beverage Control store.
``All my customers are hiding,'' said a bemused Gilchrist, the manager of the ABC operation, as she looked around the aisles at cameras setting up for the store's ribbon-cutting.
Ricky Armstrong didn't mind the publicity.
``I love it. It's so convenient,'' said Armstrong, who was looking over the shelves. ``I can already cash my paycheck here on Fridays. So now I don't have to fight the traffic to go around the block before I go home.''
Around the block is where the old ABC store stood in the city's busy Wards Corner neighborhood. But the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control signed a five-year lease last month to move the business to the Farm Fresh.
The move is a novelty for state-run ABC stores, which had always been stand-alone operations. It's an experiment to see how well such piggyback arrangements work, said state ABC Board chairwoman Catherine H. Giordano.
``What we are in is a tenant-landlord relationship'' with Farm Fresh, said Giordano, who helped cut the ribbon.
The supermarket is open 24 hours a day. The ABC part will be open during the state agency's standard hours, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The liquor store was set up in a corner of Farm Fresh next to a table-and-chair section where customers can sit down with a fresh bagel or tuna salad sandwich.
Sales of spirits are handled by ABC employees, not Farm Fresh clerks. The supermarket will continue to sell beer and wine.
Giordano said ABC officials are negotiating with grocery stores in other parts of the state for similar space. by CNB