Carlene Brown opened up her first liquor store in 1966 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. At the time, Kansas liquor stores allowed refrigeration, but Brown was told not to worry because Oklahoma would soon be doing the same. Now, 51 years later, Brown’s Bottle Shop can finally have refrigerated drinks.

Last fall, a 66 percent vote passed State Question 792, which will allow grocery and convenience stores to sell stronger beer and wine. It is this new law that will allow liquor store owners to have coolers along with the option to sell nonalcoholic items.

The new laws will also provide the possibility for Sunday sales and allowing minors in stores.

These laws will not go into effect until Oct. 1, 2018. However, Stillwater liquor stores are already planning to make adjustments for the new competition.

Brown said they have not made any official decisions, but they have considered renovating a section of the store into a refrigerator.

Located on Main Street, Brown said relocating is not an option. She also said they are not considering selling nonalcoholic items at this time due to the 20 percent maximum in sales they would have to attentively watch.

Even though adjustments are being made, Brown said she believes these new laws will be beneficial for her business in the long run.

On the other side of town off of Highway 51, Stillwater Wine and Spirits Warehouse has different plans in preparation for the new law.

Staff member Susan Moore said they would soon be expanding next door in the space previously used by Red Rock Bakery.

“There’s already a cooling system over there,” Moore said. Along with utilizing the option to sell refrigerated drinks, Stillwater Wine and Spirits also intends to sell nonalcoholic items.

“That’s our plan for sure,” Moore said.

For local brewing business, Iron Monk, the new laws in place are both beneficial and conflicting.

Marketing Manager Mark Waits said it will increase their potential and the amount of places they can sell their beer.

“We are going to get a lot more foot traffic which is a benefit to us. Having our beer sold in convenience stores will be awesome,” Waits said.

The downfall for Iron Monk is the increase in competition from out-of-state breweries. The new law in place makes Oklahoma a more marketable option for other businesses.

Fat Tire from Colorado and Stone Brewing from San Diego have already started selling their products in Oklahoma.

Waits said the Iron Monk team has been neutral on the whole issue.

“Now we’re just going to make the most going forward,” Waits said.