"package store"

[Fred Shapiro]

On Thu, 31 Aug 2000, Elizabeth Phillips wrote:

> Mr. Safire is interested in the origin of the term "package store," which
> Sen. Lieberman used in his speech at the DNC....
>
> The OED cites an 1890 court decision reported in the Daily News of that
> year: "Judge Forster [of Kansas] recently decided that liquor could only be
> sold in 'original packages', which is construed as meaning one or more
> bottles of beer of whisky."

A search on the Westlaw legal database points to the Liquor Control Act
enacted by Connecticut in 1933, which included "package store permit" in a
list of classes of permits for the sale of alcoholic liquors.  Even
earlier, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary indicates that the
Merriam files record "package store" as far back as 1918.

Westlaw also pulls up an 1897 federal case, Bailey Liquor Co. v. Austin,
which states, "The complainants opened ... an original package store in
the town of Greenwood [, South Carolina]."  It appears likely that the
term "package store" is short for "original package store."

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
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