Liquor Sales Increased at Restaurants During Government Shutdown

Drink away the pain.

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The federal government shutdown is over thanks to a short-term solution that's essentially like applying a band-aid when a tourniqet is needed. Now government employees can return to work, return to getting paid and stop drinking so damn much. 

Yesterday, prior to the shutdown's end, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray revealed the obvious, which is that it affected revenue, tax revenue, hotel bookings and the restaurant business. Revenue and tax revenue may have dropped by $2 million and $6 million respectively, but liquor sales at restaurants are up because people needed some way to cope with the frustration.

DCist says it received an email from the mayor's office acknowledging a "3 percent increase in restaurant beverage (primarily liquor) sales during the first week of October 2013" compared to that of September.

Josh Genderson, owner of Capitol Hill's Schneider's, says that a spike in early October liquor sales is traditional and can be attributed to the change in season. This season, however, they had extra motivation to down copious amounts of liquor.

[via DCist]

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