In New Zealand, a dairy is a small owner-operated convenience shop licensed to sell groceries, eggs, milk, dairy products, perishables, newspapers and other staples during and after normal trading hours. [1] The Australian term milk bar is also often used to describe dairies.
The term dairy came into common usage in New Zealand English to describe small shops by the late 1930s. Perishables such as milk and eggs were formerly delivered to city households from a dairy farm; by the late 1930s, small shops stocked such produce, and the term shifted to describe these shops. In addition to this meaning, New Zealand English retains the common meanings of dairy, referring to milk, milk-derived products and associated industries. [2] [3]
The distinction between dairies, superettes and grocery stores has grown increasingly blurred in New Zealand English, a fact acknowledged by the Liquor Licensing Authority in 1991, and by the Law Commission. Contributing factors to this blurring of meanings include the deregulation of trading shop hours on Sundays, ambiguity over alcohol sales laws (see § Sales of alcohol and legal highs below), and the abolition of restrictions on types of goods permitted to be sold by dairies. [4] The Law Commission summed up the ambiguity as follows:
Traditionally, a dairy was a small shop in a suburban area that sold goods such as butter, milk, bread and confectionery. It was able to trade outside normal trading hours. Today, the term "dairy" has different meanings for different people, and there seem to be fewer dairies in the traditional sense still in operation, although many shops still have "dairy" in their trading name.
— Law Commission, Alcohol In Our Lives: Curbing the Harm [4]
Dairies rely on long hours rather than high markups to make money, and are not overly profitable. As small operators, they cannot get bulk discounts that supermarkets get. As dairies must remain open long hours to stay profitable, they are almost always family-run businesses that utilise family members to run the shop. [3] New Zealand introduced the 40-hour working week in 1945, ending Saturday trading hours for most grocers. [5] Dairies were allowed to stay open outside normal working hours and on Saturdays. [3]
During the 1990s and 2000s, dairies became less profitable as other stores made inroads into their niche as nearby stores open outside regular trading hours. As supermarkets opened for longer hours with the introduction of deregulated shopping hours in 1990, and petrol stations extended the range of goods they sold, dairies began to lose their competitive advantage. [3]
A 1994 study found that 227 of the 269 dairies (84.387%) in central Auckland were owned by Indians. [3] Dairies are often self-owned by immigrants, who may face difficulties entering the workforce. Some dairy owners intended to give their children white collar or professional occupations, while other dairies had inter-generational ownership, with children taking over the store when they reach adulthood. [3]
The Sale of Liquor Act (1989) prohibited the sale of liquor in "any shop of a kind commonly known as a dairy", [6] without explicitly defining what a dairy was. In the wake of the act, dairies began altering their stock in order to qualify for a liquor license. This resulted in "a proliferation of small stores distinguishable from dairies only because they are licensed to sell alcohol." [7] The legislation contributed to the blurring distinction between dairies and grocery stores in New Zealand English. [4]
The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 sought to close this unintended loophole, clarifying the types of stores eligible to sell alcohol and ensuring dairies and convenience stores cannot sell alcohol. [8] The law attracted criticism from dairy owners. [9]
The Psychoactive Substances Act (2013) prohibits dairies from selling legal highs. [10]
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage, transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. The word is also used to refer to a period of time during which such bans are enforced.
A convenience store, convenience shop, bodega, corner store or corner shop is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as tea, coffee, groceries, fruits, vegetables, snacks, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery tickets, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers and magazines.
In Australia, a milk bar is a suburban local general store which can include delicatessens or "delis" and corner shops or corner stores. Similar, but not identical, establishments include tuck shops. Milk bars are traditionally a place where people buy newspapers, and fast-food items such as fish and chips, hamburgers, milkshakes, and snacks. They are essentially a smaller-scale suburban form of the convenience store but are more likely to be "mum and dad" small businesses rather than larger franchised operations. The term is also found in New Zealand, alongside the more local term dairy.
A grocery store (AE), grocery shop (BE) or simply grocery is a foodservice retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, and is not used to refer to other types of stores that sell groceries. In the UK, shops that sell food are distinguished as grocers or grocery shops
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is a Crown corporation that retails and distributes alcoholic beverages throughout the Canadian province of Ontario. It is accountable to the Legislative Assembly through the minister of finance. It was established in 1927 by the government of Premier George Howard Ferguson to sell liquor, wine, and beer. Such sales were banned outright in 1916 as part of prohibition in Canada. The creation of the LCBO marked an easing of the province's temperance regime. By September 2017, the LCBO was operating 651 liquor stores.
Sunday shopping or Sunday trading refers to the ability of retailers to operate stores on Sunday, a day that Christian tradition typically recognises as a day of rest. Rules governing shopping hours, such as Sunday shopping, vary around the world but many countries and subnational jurisdictions continue to ban or restrict Sunday shopping, such as Poland. In the United States, rules are enshrined within Blue laws.
The Société des alcools du Québec is a provincial Crown corporation and monopoly in Quebec responsible for the trade of alcoholic beverages within the province.
The alcohol licensing laws of the United Kingdom regulate the sale and consumption of alcohol, with separate legislation for England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland being passed, as necessary, by the UK Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Scottish Parliament respectively.
A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors, wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence, off-sale, bottle shop, bottle store or, colloquially, bottle-o, liquor store or other similar terms. A very limited number of jurisdictions have an alcohol monopoly. In US states that are alcoholic beverage control (ABC) states, the term ABC store may be used.
Franklins was an Australian discount supermarket chain selling packaged groceries and perishables throughout New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. It sold the "No Frills" home brand generic products. In 2011 the chain was bought by Metcash and the stores were sold off, shut down or converted into new supermarket banners or other brands. The final store closed in April 2015.
Alcoholic beverage control states, generally called control states, less often ABC states, are 17 states in the United States that have state monopoly over the wholesaling or retailing of some or all categories of alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine, and distilled spirits.
The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, formerly the Washington State Liquor Control Board, is an administrative agency of the State of Washington. The Liquor and Cannabis Board is part of the executive branch and reports to the Governor. The board's primary function is the licensing of on and off premises establishments which sell any type of alcohol, and the enforcement and education of the state's alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis laws.
A liquor license is a governmentally issued permit for businesses to sell, manufacture, store, or otherwise use alcoholic beverages.
A superette is an alternative name for a compact supermarket or "mini-mart".
The alcohol laws of Pennsylvania contain many peculiarities not found in other states, and are considered some of the strictest regulations in the United States.
Alcohol has been consumed in New Zealand since the arrival of Europeans. The most popular alcoholic beverage is beer. The legal age to purchase alcohol is 18. New Zealand has an above average consumption rate of alcohol, in 2016 ranking 32nd globally in per-capita total alcohol consumption.
Until 2018, Indiana was one of nearly a dozen U.S. states to ban all Sunday alcohol sales outside of bars and restaurants. That ban was repealed when Senate Bill 1 was signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb on February 28, 2018. Effective March 4, 2018, convenience stores, grocers, and liquor stores may sell alcohol from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Sundays and from 7:00 AM to 3:00 AM Monday-Saturday.
Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, are laws that restrict or ban some or all activities on specified days, particularly to promote the observance of a day of rest. Such laws may restrict shopping or ban sale of certain items on specific days. Blue laws are enforced in parts of the United States and Canada as well as some European countries, particularly in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Norway, keeping most stores closed on Sundays.
Night 'n Day is a chain of New Zealand grocery stores. The stores operate long hours, and sell a range of ready-to-eat products.
