This is the one at Fry's, a Kroger brand, near me, it's been open for a few years now.

There are a few in QFCs in Seattle. It's definitely an odd sight the first time your see it.

Which ones, I'd like to take a gander. Our local one has no bar.

I visited Austin, Texas, a few years ago and there was a massive Wholefoods (I think was the brand) with a really nice bar and several restaurants interspersed among the aisles. Then, in Newcastle on Tyne, the Marks & Spence food hall was similar. So big, there were bars, coffee shops and restaurants right inside the food hall (if memory serves.)

They finally have taken it down.

Apparently Austin, Texas has some special relationship with the grocery business. Whole Foods Market got started there. I was there a few years ago and I noticed just how amazing several local grocery stores were. I remember driving around looking for a place to grab lunch, and my GPS recommended some local 'no name' grocery store. I went in (with low expectations), and it had an amazing array of food options and a bar. They had a mini-stage set up for local bands (Austin is also a hot-bed of music). After that I made it a point of trying several grocery stores for lunch and they were all quite impressive. Austin is also a restaurant mecca, rivalling the Bay Area in some ways. If the weather weren't so extreme, I'd consider moving there.

When I was living in Scottsdale, AZ, I used to shop at the Whole Foods Market on 'Mayo Blvd', next to the Mayo hospital. It was amazing; they had a sushi bar, a bakery, a fancy 'smoker' (BBQ), a Taco counter, and a bar. Never saw many people using it, but then - I was typically there mid-afternoon!

You live in the Phoenix Metro area, do you not?

Yes indeed, North West Valley, this is the Lake Pleasant store.

The thing, from an NC perspective, is that things have moved a long way since we moved here 22 years ago, that at that time it wasn't uncommon to have "dry" towns, or even entire dry counties. As I recently as 2012-2013 we drove into a nearby town and discovered that the Mexican restaurant we were in, within a reasonable commuting distance of down-town Charlotte, didn't sell beer because the town was still dry (that changed a few years later). In fact NC only lost it's last totally dry county about five years ago - and even that, at the time was only for beer and wine - no distilled spirits and cocktails, and there are still try towns dotted around the state - they reach media attention when the issue is put on the ballot for change, and AFAIK the result these days is aways the same, that alcohol sales should be legalized.

So when we came here 22 years ago we had never imagined that one day we would find a bar in the middle of the local supermarket. Though we also had no expectation that smoking would be banned in restaurants, and that change completely blind-sided Mrs P who was certain in her own mind that tobacco and smoking was so entrenched in NC culture that the state legislature would never pass a law banning it. IIRC smoking was banned around 2006-07, so just a few years after we arrived here.

Has anyone been to a Bucee’s gas mart? They have taken the gas station mini mart up a notch or two With maybe 60 gas pumps and several in store food prep stations.

When we lived in Massachusetts, 1970s and 1990s, there were many dry towns. Now, apparently, only seven left.. in the early nineties, we lived in Belmont, MA, which is actually a lovely town with very good schools. The middle school was burned down by a student while my kids were students there, but apart from that, they got a very good start in the US education system there. Belmont was completely dry. Also, the entire town is about four square miles, embedded in the Boston/Cambridge inner suburbs. So, no adult of legal age was in any way inconvenienced by living in a dry town; you could walk a few blocks in any direction to get to a liquor store or a bar!

I lived/studied in the headquarters of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Dry as a bone.

Fortunately, the border street with Chicago was well stocked with bars and liquor stores.

Yeah, that was my impression, too. Gorgeous city, I could live there. I think since that time, property prices in Austin have shot way up. My son and I were there twice, in July. It was moderately hot, but not uncomfortably so. State Capitol is on a grand scale, really worth a visit. LBJ Presidential library and museum is exceptionally good.

Which is great, unless you get claustrophobic around hordes of people aimlessly milling about.