San Francisco has a population of 864,000 (56% of Philadelphia's), and a metro area population of 4,656,000 (77.5% of Philadelphia's), making them the 11th largest metro area.
As anyone can tell you, they are very different cities geographically, historically, and culturally. One of the few things they have in common is that they both have whiskey festivals. One is controlled by unelected, unqualified bureaucrats who decide what the entire state is allowed to buy; the other is guided by the free market, where access to new and different products in response to consumer demand is the norm.
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| Which Whiskey Fest would you rather be at? |
No PLCB means better selection: PERIOD. Full privatization is the only way it can be had. Accept no substitutes.
All true but try finding a traditional supermarket anywhere in San Francisco city limits that isn't a Safeway. Talk about an example of a lack of competition in a retail arena despite it being a free market. Safeway charges ridiculous prices (as if the cost of living in California wasn't already high enough) and has filthy, unkempt stores that are often too small to have a wide selection of anything. They are allowed to sell all the beer/wine/spirits in California they want, but it's a dismal selection. And in inner-city San Francisco, they keep most of the spirits in a locked case. So much for leisurely shopping and browsing. It's like shopping at the early state stores. Or even state stores today like the one in Bala Cynwyd where despite being a premium collection store, a lot of the premium items are locked up, and spirits miniatures aren't displayed at the checkouts for customers to touch and browse.
ReplyDeleteIt's you, Gino, isn't it? This obsession with commercial real estate is madness with you.
ReplyDeleteLook, I've lived in California, I'm a fairly frequent visitor to SF and the Bay Area, and what you say is either not so exceptional (many cities don't have "traditional supermarkets", because the "tradition" is a suburban one), or simply not so. I've not found a "dismal" selection, I've found nice stores. Not in every part of town, of course, but then you don't find nice restaurants in every part of town.
Besides of which...you're comparing oranges to the apples Albert put on display in his post. Try again.
A "dismal" selection of wine/beer/spirits in a SF grocery store beats the crap out of NO selection in a PA grocery store.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have any problem finding a Trader Joe's last time I was in the city and I know they have some Whole Foods around. But neither of those pertain to the free market blowing the PLCB out of the water for Whiskey Festivals.