Forget toilet paper and hand sanitizer, what about liquor?

Toilet paper and hand sanitizer may have been everyone’s immediate priorities, but if we’re talking long-term quarantines, then let’s talk the real essential: alcohol.

Need proof? Just ask liquor stores, which have been particularly slammed with shoppers in the past couple of days.

“I think it’s everybody realizing they had to be home with their children,” said Kasie Kieffer of J’s Korner Liquor in Augusta.

There seem to be all kinds of motivations behind the run on liquor.

“OK, both to drink and to clean a wound, which alcohol would you recommend?” asked one J’s customer.

Kieffer said Everclear is a popular seller right now. Whether that’s for drinking or make-at-home sanitizers she’s not sure.

Wednesday, there was a rampant rumor that Kansas was forcing liquor stores to close.

“The State does not foresee closing liquor stores or bars for COVID-19 related reasons,” said an e-mailed statement from the Kansas Department of Revenue. “The closure of businesses is up to local municipalities and business owners.”

Still, there’s a fear that with so much changing day to day — and sometimes hour to hour — that could change as well.

“We’re definitely seeing people . . . stock the wine cellar and load up on beer and alcohol,” said Jason Webster, who owns the ABC Discount Wine & Spirits at 21st and Tyler.

“They don’t know if we’re going to be shut down, and we don’t really either.”

To adjust to selling during the coronavirus outbreak, store owners like Webster are now offering curbside sales, where customers can call in advance and then pick up their liquor without getting out of their cars.

“It’s my understanding it’s legal as long as we take payment inside the liquor store,” Webster said.

That understanding seems to be a little unclear across liquor stores.

“It is legal for some stores to currently make sales from the curb,” the Department of Revenue statement said.

“When applying for a permanent premise approval, liquor stores must diagram the business and some already include the curbside.”

Cambridge Liquor at 21st and Webb Road applied to do curbside sales six months ago.

“We had had a calling for it from people who are in the area,” said managing partner Jacob Hanes.

Other stores, such as J’s, already have drive-throughs.

Kieffer said her grandmother Dorothy Wedman’s store is in a former bank, so she’s had a drive-through for two decades, and it accounts for about 40 percent of the store’s sales.

Jacob Liquor Exchange also is doing more curbside sales than normal, and it’s offering a 15% discount on nonsale items for shoppers who bring in receipts from area restaurants that are dated March 15 to April 30.

“We want to help as much as we can,” said wine director Jamie Stratton.

He said while there are a lot of financial concerns right now, that doesn’t mean people aren’t buying alcohol.

“If anything else, maybe people are trading down a little bit.”

He said box wines are proving the most popular in his store.

“You get more bang for your buck.”

The ABC Discount Liquor at Maple and Tyler has a drive-through, and the one at 13th and West is getting one, which has been in the works for some time.

“I just think at this point with trying to stay competitive with the grocery market, anything we can do to add a convenience for our customer is pretty important right now,” Webster said.

A lot of stores already adjusted to compete with grocery stores when they were allowed to begin selling full-strength beer last year.

That’s why Cocktail Time Wine & Spirits owner Mark Kastens added a drive-through at his store at 13th and Maize Road.

“Maybe I can keep you from walking clear across a Dillons store to find beer.”

Ron Groves of Groves Retail Liquor said so many liquor stores have already been hard hit by that increased competition, and he said issues related to the coronavirus could make it worse.

“I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime.”

Not that his store is suffering.

“There’s definitely a run on liquor,” Groves said.

He said he’s spoken with suppliers, and there’s no reason to panic over the liquor supply in Wichita.

“We’re not going to run out.”

This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 4:48 AM.