One month deferment of no-alcohol sale rule not a boon, business owners tell DBKL

[superadmin]

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) latest announcement that the ban on sale of alcohol by grocery and convenience stores as well as Chinese medicine halls will now start on October 31 instead of October 1 was met with indifference by the affected store owners.

They said the deferment is not going to help their earnings, given the already gloomy business climate due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Policy flip-flops hurt more, they added.

In November last year, Chinese medicine hall and sundry shop proprietors anticipated dark days ahead over the liquor sales restriction that would see their dwindling revenue further diminish.

“No point. Just one month. Next month you cannot sell, this month you can sell liquor. No point,” said Low Pak Koon, 70 who runs a traditional Chinese medicine hall in Petaling Street, adding that the latest move by DBKL justified his decision to not sell alcohol.

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[purificacionev]

I think this decision will hit small businesses hard because many small shops make significant revenue out of alcohol sales. It’s a kind of item people always buy, especially beer or wine. 

I get why the government decides not to sell strong alcohol in grocery shops, and it’s an effective anti-alcohol measure, but they could leave beer and cyder in there. A similar system works in Norway, but they allow the selling of low-alcohol drinks like beer or cyder in regular shops. Good for me because it’s my way of treatment anxiety. I’m not an alcoholic, but it’s nice to have a good cyder after a long day.