"package store"

[Frank Abate]

You should check DARE (which I don't have handy).  I am from the Midwest,
but have lived in New England for about 18 years now.  As far as I know,
"package store" is the regular term in New England for what a Midwesterner
would call a "liquor store", or a "state store" in those states where liquor
is only sold by state-run outlets (was true in Ohio when I left, and in
Pa.).

I would call "package store" a pure regionalism, and reflective (as Lynne M
said) of Lieberman's CT origin.  He may not have realized he was using a
regionalism, as it is the natural and expected term in his dialect area.

When I visited North Carolina I noticed that they have "ABCs" (so called),
which are "state stores" run by the Alcoholic Beverage Commission.  I expect
other states show variation in usage for these stores, as Prohibition, when
repealed, allowed states to set their own rules, and some were more
conservative in regulating than others.

Frank Abate