Liquor store inventory comes down to three habits: count every item the same way, in full cases and loose bottles, turned into bottles; check every delivery against its invoice before it goes on the shelf; and keep the papers. The papers aren't optional. Federal law asks every retail dealer to keep, at the store, a record of the quantities of spirits, wine and beer received, who from, and the date, as the purchase invoices or a book record, for at least three years. A store that sells 20 wine gallons (75.7 liters) or more to one buyer at one time, such as nine cases of wine for a wedding, also records that sale with the buyer's name and address and a signed delivery receipt. Your state's liquor authority adds its own rules. The count is where most stores lose track: a shelf of 1.75s, a back room of mixed cases and a cooler of 12-packs don't add up the same way twice unless everyone counts them the same way. The example below is a Peoria liquor store's weekly count.
The short version
- Count each item as full cases plus loose bottles, and turn it into bottles or packs.
- Set a par for each item, and order the cases that bring it back to par.
- Check each delivery against the invoice before it's shelved.
- Keep invoices, or a book record, of what came in, who from and when, for at least three years.
- A sale of 20 wine gallons or more to one buyer at one time gets its own record and a signed receipt.
- Check your state liquor authority's rules on top.
- TaroStack counts by the case and the bottle on a phone, and keeps each delivery with its supplier and date. More below.
How to count a liquor store
| Step | How |
|---|---|
| Same order every time | Shelf by shelf, left to right, front to back, back room and cooler last |
| Full cases, then loose | Count sealed cases, then loose bottles or packs, on separate lines |
| Turn it into one unit | On hand = full cases × bottles a case + loose |
| Value it at cost | On hand × cost a bottle |
| Order to par | Cases to order = what's short of par ÷ bottles a case, rounded up |
| Check the gaps | An item that's short with no sale behind it is breakage, theft or a receiving mistake |
Why counts drift is in why inventory does not match, and a store's shrink in grocery store shrink.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| Records of receipt | Quantities of spirits, wine and beer received, who from and the dates, kept at the store as purchase invoices or a book record (27 CFR 31.181(a)) |
| Large sales | Each sale of 20 wine gallons (75.7 liters) or more to the same person at the same time: date, buyer's name and address, kind and quantity, serial numbers of full cases of spirits, a delivery receipt signed by the buyer (31.181(b)) |
| How long | At least three years, open to inspection during business hours (27 CFR 31.191) |
States set their own license and record rules for liquor stores. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a Peoria store's Monday count
Knoxville Avenue Liquors, a made-up liquor store in Peoria, Illinois, counts on Monday mornings before the distributors' order deadlines. Part of this week's count:
| Item | Size | A case | Full cases | Loose | On hand | Cost each | Par | Cases to order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bourbon, small batch | 750 mL | 12 | 3 | 5 | 41 | $22.50 | 48 | 1 |
| Vodka | 1.75 L | 6 | 4 | 2 | 26 | $17.00 | 30 | 1 |
| Tequila blanco | 750 mL | 12 | 1 | 7 | 19 | $24.00 | 24 | 1 |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 750 mL | 12 | 2 | 3 | 27 | $11.50 | 36 | 1 |
| Prosecco | 750 mL | 12 | 1 | 10 | 22 | $9.25 | 24 | 1 |
| Local IPA, 4-pack | 16 oz cans | 6 | 3 | 1 | 19 | $8.40 | 24 | 1 |
| Light lager, 12-pack | cans | 2 | 10 | 0 | 20 | $10.80 | 24 | 2 |
| Hard seltzer, 12-pack | cans | 2 | 4 | 1 | 9 | $15.20 | 12 | 2 |
These eight items hold $2,846.90 at cost. On the Saturday before, a customer bought nine cases of the Cabernet for a wedding: 108 bottles, or 81 liters, which is 21.4 wine gallons and over the federal threshold. The store wrote the sale up with the buyer's name and address, and kept the delivery slip the buyer signed with that week's invoices. The count also found two bottles of Prosecco short with no sale behind them, and the clerk who'd swept up a broken bottle on Thursday confirmed it, so they went down as breakage. How par levels differ from reorder points is in par level vs reorder point.
Get the spreadsheet
Download the liquor store inventory spreadsheet. Three sheets: the count, with each item's full cases and loose bottles, on hand, value, par and the cases to order; a receiving log with the date, distributor, invoice, cases and cost; and a log of sales of 20 gallons or more, with liters and wine gallons worked out. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A store carries hundreds or thousands of items. A spreadsheet count of that many takes a morning, the receiving log is typed in from invoices after the fact, and the count and the deliveries never meet in one place.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack counts by the case and the bottle, and keeps each delivery with its supplier and date.
Buy by the case, stock by the bottle. An item is bought by the case and stocked by the bottle or pack, and TaroStack does the math.
Counts with no signal. The back room and the cooler can be counted on a phone with no signal, by scanning or by typing.
Receiving. Each delivery is received from its supplier with its date and cost, and the reorder list shows what's running low, in days of cover.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The Monday count | A clipboard, typed in later | A count on a phone, offline |
| What came in, from whom, when | Invoices in a box | Deliveries received from each supplier |
| What to order | Par minus on hand, by hand | The reorder list |
Counts, receiving and the reorder list are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.