Mississippi’s liquor crisis has gone from annoying to a full-blown statewide headache.
Across the state, liquor stores, bars, and restaurants are staring at half-empty shelves after a breakdown at Mississippi’s alcohol warehouse left more than 170,000 cases of liquor and wine sitting in limbo. But per the Associated Press, retailers say orders that once took a few days are now taking up to five weeks, forcing businesses to ration inventory and send frustrated customers elsewhere.
In Jackson, Levure Bottle Shop owner Brandi Carter has spent months watching her back room empty out. Sticky notes line the walls with the names of customers waiting for bottles she still can’t get.
“I’ve just reached acceptance that this is our new normal, and it’s awful,” Carter said.
The problem is uniquely Mississippi. Unlike most states, where private distributors handle alcohol deliveries, Mississippi controls the entire system. Every bottle of liquor and most wine sold in the state has to pass through the Mississippi Alcoholic Beverage Control warehouse.
That system broke down in January.
The state switched from its aging conveyor-belt system to a new warehouse program and a forklift-based loading process. But the new software reportedly did not work with the ordering system. Retailers say orders were marked as shipped even when the products never left the warehouse.
The backlog exploded.
By early March, more than 220,000 cases were awaiting delivery. As of mid-April, the number had dropped, but barely. More than 172,000 cases were still stuck in the system, and the average wait time for deliveries had ballooned to 17 days. Back in January, the wait was just three days.
The slowdown is hitting stores hard. Josh Sorrell, who owns Spillway Wine and Spirits in Brandon, said he used to order as many as 600 cases in a day. Now he is capped at 100.
About 30% to 40% of the products he normally stocks are unavailable.
“As it gets busier, we’re gonna crumble,” Sorrell said. “It’s going to be really hard at 100 cases a day to stock up for October, November, December.”
The shortage is already changing how people shop. Customers are driving from store to store chasing specific bottles, only to come up empty. One Mississippi woman recently went looking for orange cream shots for her daughter’s prom weekend and struck out at both her neighborhood supermarket and liquor store.
The crisis has also reignited a political fight over whether Mississippi should even be in the liquor business. Lawmakers floated an emergency proposal that would have temporarily allowed stores to buy directly from out-of-state distributors, bypassing the state warehouse entirely. The bill died before the legislative session ended.
“We have no solution from the Senate,” Republican Rep. Hank Zuber said.
At least four businesses are now suing the warehouse operator, claiming the delays have damaged their businesses.
