The Liquor Store Vending Machine: Goody-Goody Upgrades Greenville Avenue Store

The robots are taking over at the Goody-Goody Liquor store on Greenville Avenue in northeast Dallas. Don’t fret, however. It’s not the beginning of the end for free-will imbibing. It’s simply working smarter, not harder. So we think, anyway.

Joe Jansen opened Goody-Goody Liquor in Dallas in 1964. The store has remained family-owned and operated since. Well, mostly on the latter. Now, part of the operations is handled by a giant machine that occupies about a quarter of the Greenville store. Instead of shelves stacked with bottles 10 deep, rows of single bottles are displayed behind glass with a QR code. The store, which serves as a test pilot, feels less cluttered and busy. The digital process is fairly simple, although it might take some getting used to.

How it Works

Customers walk in and peruse the aisles where single bottles of booze stand at attention. Once you find what you want, you scan a QR code with your phone and add it to your digital cart. There’s no need to sign up for anything or download an app. After a few clicks your order is sent to another part of the store where a giant vending machine kicks into gear.

Customers can watch their orders being prepped on four screens above the register. Robotic arms and bins work in tandem. Orders are collected at one of three stations, which staff deliver to the check-out counter, where customers pay.

“Another thing this has enabled us to do is put a lot higher-end products on the shelf that may otherwise have been stolen,” says Scott Jansen, president of Goody Goody.

The remodeled store has a smaller footprint combined with an expanded, carefully curated selection.

But Why Robots?

Jansen says there are a lot of reasons the store made this move, which they started building out in January. But at the core of the system is logistics and lower costs. The fully automated system helps the store maintain inventory and reduce stockouts.

Employees spend less time and energy rolling boxes of bottles out to the floor, meaning employees can spend more time with customers. Jansen says the system reduces the number of times employees touch bottles two or three times.

And you know when you ask an employee, “Do y’all have this in the back?” Then they disappear for 10 minutes? Well, no more of that.

The website used for the digital cart also allows shoppers to learn about products as well. Each bottles comes with a description. Jansen says they’re working on loading a photo of the back of each bottle into the system (the front is already available). And if a customer leaves a review on a product that is visible too.

Finally, there’s much less dusting, which appearantly is a big deal in liquor stores. No one wants to buy a dusty bottle of Tito’s.

Beer, small bottles and a few other items are still available to the old fashioned way. The giant vending isn’t refrigerated (yet), so any items you’d typically pick up cold are still be easy to grab.

Goody Goody Liquor, 7124 Greenville Ave., Monday – Saturday 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.