What's the deal with NJ Bikini Bars and alcohol?

There are no new liquor licenses in NJ (although that may change). Liquor licenses are only available when you buy them from someone going out of business. I used to work on the restaurant industry in NJ - saw liquor licenses go for $2MM on the secondary market.

I have no idea how that affects SCs, but it does make liquor laws really fucking weird.

We are a liberal eastern state, but we're also super old (for the US) and have a shit ton of weird legacy puritan law nonsense on the books that's super out of date.

So what happens if you want to open a new restaurant? You're not allowed to sell alcohol there unless some other restaurant goes out of business?

And the fact that NJ is an "old" state with old Puritan laws doesn't explain why those laws are still in effect. Why haven't they gotten repealed by now? Why is this craziness allowed to continue with no one objecting to it?

They should just get rid of all the strip clubs in NJ

general rule of thumb in us is.... show the pussy , get no booze... not sure of state laws

Not true in MA -- almost all are nude clubs with alcohol. Plenty of clubs in Ri also.

@FrustratedInTheUS

The Restaurant Lobby campaigns hard to keep it like this. If you started a restaurant and bought a license for $2MM (which you can resell when you retire). If they repeal the law, you can't sell your $2MM license anymore b.c anyone can get a new one from the state. So your $2MM license is now worth zero.

So a whole industry fights hard to keep it as is. That's what's going on in NJ. Very weird.

Mass is full nude, full alcohol. South Florida is too. Rhode Island can be in public and always is in private.

I'm pretty sure there is no federal law against it. I'm not sure if it's typically regulated at the state or local municipality level, probably both. Several areas have nudity and alcohol. We do in parts of Florida for sure, but it's varies by locality. Some counties, some towns/cities/etc have more strict regulations than others.

Liquor licensing around here is similar to what others have mentioned. There's a quota of licenses in an area based on population. It's my understanding that most of the areas are maxed out, at least the ones you'd want. So for all practical purposes they're not issuing new ones but I suppose populations change and new slots could open up. That means if you want one, you're buying it from a place that closed up.

In general though, I think the idea is that the public in overall doesn't like strip clubs. There is enough support from the courts to keep them from being banned outright on 1st amendment grounds. But, they think that by limiting alcohol sales they can limit their appeal and popularity. I suspect it works to some extent. They probably frame the law is about reducing crime, disease, and providing a safe place for the dancers. Much the same way they frame the prohibition on 18-20 year olds as being about stopping human trafficking, but I'm pretty sure they're just hoping they can starve out supply of dancers by limiting the pool of potentials.

Sounds to me like they're actually after two things: not just sex (strip clubs), but also alcohol. Because why else would there be a quota on liquor licenses per population? Does such a concept even exist in any other developed country?

^ It’s a moneymaking scheme by local governments, there’s usually a mechanism to license or regulate certain types of businesses, it’s also used to regulate taxi cab medallions, it’s generally used by municipalities rather then states, but it’s an offshoot of the archaic patronage systems in which the election winners receive legal bribes.

Not specific to NJ, but it's easier for local governments to regulate alcohol sales than nudity. It's settled law that appearing fully nude on stage is free speech and Broadway and off Broadway productions support this.

States have tons of control of liquor sales, and a lot of states have weird laws there. Last call alone varies so much it's worth looking up if you visit a new city. Sometimes Costco can sell hard liquor. Sometimes only wine and beer. And sometimes they put up a few walls and have a separate checkout and call it a "liquor store".