And we’re off! Welcome to the first installment of ABC: 1,2,3, a comprehensive ranking of the top-selling Alcoholic Beverage Control store in each of contiguous North Carolina’s 97 wet counties. We’re tremendously excited to share this project, which we hope you’ll agree is an entertaining demonstration of The Food Section’s commitment to on-the-ground reporting, reader service, and holding power to account.
A few notes on the construction of the list:
- The list starts at 96 because the top-selling store in Union County was on the cusp of closing for a major renovation when we visited, so it didn’t seem fair to rank it.
- Because so many stores clustered at the bottom of our 100-point scale, there are lots of ties on the list; in those cases, counties are listed in alphabetical order.
- If you want to revisit the criteria—or score the store nearest you!—you’ll find a blank scoresheet here.
- At the end of the week, we’ll share our official ABC: 1,2, 3 score sheets so you can review county-by-county point details.
- How low are these scores? Keep in mind that a store could pick up 10 points if an employee said hello and bottles weren’t visibly dusty.
Cheers!
