Three Red Dots

I'm seeing red dots today, and it isn't because of yesterday's solar eclipse.

In the United States, each of the 50 states controls sales of alcoholic beverages.  Hence, you have a collection of conflicting laws for the sales and even consumption of alcohol.

One of the (sometimes) pleasures of travel is seeing some of those different laws in action.

My resident state of New York, for example, does not allow sales of either wine or liquor (hard spirits) in supermarkets.  Beer is sold in supermarkets and groceries.  Wine and liquor are sold in liquor stores (wineries can also sell their own wine).  A person can only own one liquor store, so there are no chain liquor stores in New York State (although people are trying to get around that in imaginative ways beyond the scope of this blog.)

In the neighboring state of Pennsylvania, wine and spirits are sold through state run liquor stores.

And then there is South Carolina.

When you visit South Carolina, you will think certain stores have broken out in three red dots, like liquor measles.  In fact,  you see signs advertising stores in shopping centers, and there will be no store name - only those three red dots.

Here's your answer. Those red dots signify a store selling hard liquor.  But why?  I've never seen the dots anywhere else in the United States.

I did some research on this back in 2015, when I first noticed this on a vacation.  Turns out it dates back to 1945 when South Carolina changed a law concerning signage permitted for liquor stores to prohibit advertising.  They decided not to permit liquor stores to have signs with letters more than six inches high and four inches wide.  Bigger than that and you would have an advertisement for liquor.  So, what to do (other than own super magnifying glasses?)

An enterprising sign man in Charleston was hired to do a sign for a Charleston liquor store owner.  He painted large red dots around the letters to highlight them.

It caught on at a time when liquor stores were called "ABC" stores (three red dots needed) for Alcohol Beverage Commission stores.   South Carolina may have had state run liquor stores at one time (I didn't research that).  But even today, you'll see some of the liquor stores have "A" "B" "C" in each of the dots. (And sometimes, the stores will advertise themselves as "party stores". I've also seen that in Georgia, without dots.)

But now, the three red dots are just plain custom.   And those dots are so easy to see when you are traveling in South Carolina and need a drink. (Thank you, South Carolina, for making it so easy to find those stores-unintended consequences?)

There's another theory, too, involving an older law prohibiting liquor sales between sundown and sunup but I like the "large red dot around the letters" theory.

Oh, and one other thing.  What happens if a store sells, wine, beer and liquor (which is permitted in South Carolina? The wine/beer part, and the liquor part, have to have two separate entrances.    The beer and wine part may even sell food, including mixers, crackers and cheese.  And, oh yes, T-Shirts from local breweries.

Something they could never, ever, do in New York State because all liquor stores can sell is - well, liquor and wine.  No food. No T-Shirts. (recently, they have been allowed to sell items such as gift bags for the liquor or wine bottle (and I believe they must be sold at cost), but not much else.)

Does your area have special liquor laws (including prohibiting sales)?