‘This doesn’t make sense any more’: why you still can’t buy wine in New York supermarkets

Prohibition-era laws require a trip to the liquor store. Those shops say they're defending an intimate tradition

In New York City, you can now buy marijuana from colorful smoke shops. But here in America's largest metropolis, you still can't legally buy a bottle of wine from a grocery store.

The restriction dates back to the end of prohibition, and while most other US states have done away with similar laws, it has remained on the books in New York for close to a century, baffling visitors and frustrating residents.