CHARLOTTE, N.C. — ABC stores and neighborhood bars across the state removed Russian liquor brands from shelves in droves this week, after Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order.
The order told the state’s ABC Commission to review its list of products and suspend the wholesale purchase and sale of Russian liquor brands.
Other affected state agencies were told to sever ties with Russian entities and were prohibited from entering into new contracts with Russian-affiliated services.
You can read the governor’s executive order here.
The order had swift consequences for Russian brands on the shelves of the state’s ABC stores. By mid-week, stores across the Charlotte region reported the removal of bottles and said they would not inquire to purchase more, since the executive order prohibited new orders.
Several stores in Union County said the affected products, mostly Russian Standard and Hammer & Sickle, had been removed by Tuesday morning.
Statesville’s ABC Board said it had removed 17 bottles of Russian Standard, the only Russian brand it sold, Tuesday morning as well.
“This is where we pulled it from,” said general manager Tip Nicholson, gesturing to a small empty spot on one of his vodka shelves.
Nicholson has worked in the Statesville liquor business for more than two decades. Currently, he serves as the Statesville ABC Board’s general manager and previously served on the board.
He said he could not remember a similar moment during his work with the ABC Board when geopolitics affected the sale of specific brands.
“Products that you can’t get from overseas because of the tax situation, but not anything like this,” Nicholson said.
Russian Standard only accounted for about 158 bottles sold last year, and the pulled stock Tuesday accounted for about $200 of Nicholson’s wholesale spending. Nicholson, and Union County ABC stores, said other brands, like American-made Tito’s, were significantly more popular in the state.
However, Nicholson said there were some misconceptions this week about what brands were Russian, and what brands were made elsewhere.
“Smirnoff vodka made in Illinois, Stoli, which is down here, which they’ve — in the news, people been pouring it down the drains — is made in Latvia, not in Russia. And there’s several others,” Nicholson explained.
Store staff in Statesville said a small number of customers had mentioned the Russian vodka ban. At least one other customer asked the store to consider stocking Ukrainian vodka instead.
“Yesterday we had a customer come in and asked actually about our Ukrainian vodkas, which we don’t unfortunately carry,” said store clerk Justin Hill.
Nicholson said those brands could be on the way.
“We have a meeting of our general managers coming up in Asheville at the end of this month, and I would suspect that would be a topic of conversation,” Nicholson said.
In total, the state’s ABC Commission said only a handful of brands were affected by the executive order. Those brands include Russian Standard, Hammer & Sickle, Beluga, Imperial, Zyr and Jewel of Russia.
In Charlotte, bars said the impact of the order was minimal on day-to-day operations, also saying other brands, like Tito’s, were already much more popular.
However, Kevin Cooper, the owner of LGBTQ sports bar Sidelines, said he had started to get customer questions about what brands of vodka they serve.
“When the customers take the time to text you, on your day off, you know that they’ve got questions and they’re concerned,” Cooper said while prepping his bar Wednesday afternoon.
This year, Sidelines will celebrate 15 years in business. In his years behind the bar, dating back to when he turned 21, Cooper said he’s also never seen geopolitics affect liquor sales.
“Availability probably yes — issues with supply and demand and stuff. But, as far as like something like this, where people are taking a stance because of some political issue, that’s probably a lot less,” Cooper said.
Sidelines did not stock any Russian liquors, and customers usually preferred other brands. But, Cooper said LGBTQ bars like his have been dealing with similar issues for years and know how to handle it.
“When brands have come out against gay issues or gay people — we’ve pulled the brands ourselves and customers have stopped drinking it when they find out about it. So, we were used to that sort of like personal protest people like to make,” Cooper said about experiences with personal protests.
He also said there was a growing interest to consider Ukrainian liquor brands behind the bar, to satisfy some customer requests.
“Sounds like a great idea, but I honestly don’t know what brands those are. So, we’d have to research and find out what they are, and see if people like them,” Cooper said.
Several of the ABC stores contacted by Spectrum News 1 said they were unsure what they would do with the pulled Russian products.