Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[francelajoie]

I am babysitting for the weekend and they live close to a Whole Foods. So, I think this is my chance. I get the girls (11 and 14 years old) and we head out to go do some shopping (gluten-free shopping). When we get there, I decide to go in the mini beer and wine store and ask if they carry gluten-free beer so I can buy a couple cases to bring back home. This is their reply (after driving an hour to get there):

Yes we do carry gluten-free beer by Rampo Valley. We cannot sell it to you because you could be bying it for her (the 14 year old). It's the law.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I am not a happy camper.

[GlutenFreeAl]

What kind of deranged person buys beer for a 14 year old?

Seriously...

[francelajoie]

Ahaha...right!

Well I'll just have to go again tomorrow and leave them in the car! I really want it for next weekend and that is the only place the carry it around here.

[MySuicidalTurtle]

I don't think that can possibly be a law. You should have spoken to a manager an complained.

[francelajoie]

Wish I had the gutts to do that. I'm so shy when it comes to that stuff I just say "fine" and go back the next day.

[mouse]

What about all the parents that take their kids into the super market? They buy beer, wine and hard stuff. That is the most stupid thing I have heard of.

[francelajoie]

Well I guess it's because the 14 year old and I didn't look like we had much of an age difference. I'm 28 but I can pass for a 16 year old. He didn't even ask for my ID or anything. He didn't look like a nice man at all.

[debmidge]

I have known people who would do that. When I was a teenager I remember adults who did that for some young guys I knew additionally my best friend's children go to school with kids whose mother buys booze for them; they have parties to which my best friend's childen used to go to (now my best friend forbids her kids to "hang out" with those other kids). The kids' mother admitted to supplying them with booze for their parties at home.

The clerk may have had it happen to him before and he was too scared to have it happen again (? maybe) or somehow because they weren't your children he wasn't sure what to do (?)

[francelajoie]

Makes total sense...ok....i'm not as mad anymore

[Carriefaith]

We cannot sell it to you because you could be bying it for her (the 14 year old). It's the law.

That doesn't surprise me, especially after what happened to me last night at a liquor store. I was on my way to a friends house and I stopped into liquor store to buy my friend a bottle of wine. As soon as my boyfriend and I walked into the store, a lady asked to see my ID and then my boyfriend's ID (We are 24). My boyfriend said that he wasn't buying anything and the lady said that it didn't matter. There was a police man in the liquor store and they didn't seem to be letting anyone in unless they were 19!

[debmidge]

Also, I sort of remember that sometimes the "Alcohol Beverage Control" authority would deliberately send people into liquor stores as "tests" and maybe the clerk thought you were them....

[Guest BERNESES]

That's lame and I'm not positive about this, but I think it might be the law in some places. I bet you wouldn't have had such a hard time if she was younger.

[tarnalberry]

Since the store does have the right to refuse to sell to you, it was probably a case of a conservative store policy. If you clearly looked like the parent, or the kids were much younger, it probably wouldn't have been a problem. But I know *lots* of people who would buy alcohol for their younger friends (usually not 14, but 15-17, sure) when they were just of age, so stores do that to cover their behinds.

[ebrbetty]

which store was it? I shop at the Bellingham store. [ no beer or wine]

I think they should have sold it to you, as long as you're of age. go back and have the kids wait in the car lol

[Guest Robbin]

I can understand your frustration, but the guy could lose his job or liquor license, so he was being extra cautious. If you leave 'em in the car--have them lock up the doors and to lay on the horn if any strangers bother them!!!(just being a cautious mom!!)

[tiredofdoctors]

Not to navigate away from the initial problem, but . . . . how do you guys navigate through whole foods? My husband and I just shopped there for the first time -- it was an absolute jumble to find things. Products which you think would be located in the same general area (Miso Soup should be somewhere in the vacinity of Asian foods) just AREN'T. We had to ask and ask and still didn't get many answers. Their brochure for "gluten-free" foods contains a lot of items -- about 60% were not carried in our store. I asked them about the magazines, "Living Without" and "Gluten-Free Living" -- One girl said, "I think I've heard of "Living Without". They had neither, and "didn't know if they could individually subscribe to it". I told them that their chain throughout the nation subscribes to it -- didn't they think they could get a few delivered to them? At any rate, going to try "Wild Oats" one day this week, and hope for a better visit. I will say, though, Whole Foods is very aesthetically pleasing from the parking area. . . .

[tarnalberry]

Not to navigate away from the initial problem, but . . . . how do you guys navigate through whole foods? My husband and I just shopped there for the first time -- it was an absolute jumble to find things. Products which you think would be located in the same general area (Miso Soup should be somewhere in the vacinity of Asian foods) just AREN'T. We had to ask and ask and still didn't get many answers. Their brochure for "gluten-free" foods contains a lot of items -- about 60% were not carried in our store. I asked them about the magazines, "Living Without" and "Gluten-Free Living" -- One girl said, "I think I've heard of "Living Without". They had neither, and "didn't know if they could individually subscribe to it". I told them that their chain throughout the nation subscribes to it -- didn't they think they could get a few delivered to them? At any rate, going to try "Wild Oats" one day this week, and hope for a better visit. I will say, though, Whole Foods is very aesthetically pleasing from the parking area. . . .

Eh... you get used to the layout after a while, at least in the ones I've been to. As for Living Without - there's only four issues a year, I believe, so it's not always in the store, only shortly after a new issue has come out.

[francelajoie]

which store was it? I shop at the Bellingham store. [ no beer or wine]

I think they should have sold it to you, as long as you're of age. go back and have the kids wait in the car lol

It was the Framingham store on Rt.9

Not to navigate away from the initial problem, but . . . . how do you guys navigate through whole foods? My husband and I just shopped there for the first time -- it was an absolute jumble to find things. Products which you think would be located in the same general area (Miso Soup should be somewhere in the vacinity of Asian foods) just AREN'T. We had to ask and ask and still didn't get many answers. Their brochure for "gluten-free" foods contains a lot of items -- about 60% were not carried in our store. I asked them about the magazines, "Living Without" and "Gluten-Free Living" -- One girl said, "I think I've heard of "Living Without". They had neither, and "didn't know if they could individually subscribe to it". I told them that their chain throughout the nation subscribes to it -- didn't they think they could get a few delivered to them? At any rate, going to try "Wild Oats" one day this week, and hope for a better visit. I will say, though, Whole Foods is very aesthetically pleasing from the parking area. . . .

I agree with you there. I only go there for the beer and sometimes I'll buy food. I prefer the little natural foods store down the street cause they have a gluten-free isle. So much easier but a little more expensive.

[francelajoie]

Finally got beer!

Was the same guy at the counter as when I went the first time. He looked at me with a grin on his face...he knew exactly who I was. He didn't say a word. I just told him he should take the sign off the front door "Gluten-free beer", cause I just bought your last four 6 packs!!!

[jerseyangel]

[Guest Pixi]

If you are an adult carrying proof of age, they cannot deny you the sale on an assumption that you're buying it for someone else. Or no one would be allowed to buy booze!

If you talk to a manager and make a bit of a stink (even if you're polite to him), you may get a freebie.. so try it out

(Or write an anonymous letter to the corporate office lol)