In partnership with University of North Texas Health Science Center, Counter Tools facilitated the Retail Alcohol Data (RAD) collaborative as a free opportunity for coalitions to gather important data about the alcohol retail environment. From January-March 2025, more than 30 coalitions and agencies across 15 states visited 2,368 off-premise licensed alcohol outlets to collect local data on the availability, pricing, and marketing of 7 ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages that are especially dangerous and/or appeal to young people. Some of the products of interest included Four Loko, Natty Daddy, and Steel Reserve. Of the 2,368 outlets visited, 2,017 contained at least one product of interest. Participants received training and technical support, enabling them to use a standardized survey in software developed by Counter Tools. 

To support local and state policy advocacy, researchers at the University of North Texas Health Science Center provided statistical analyses including average price per product and average price per standard drink. Across all 15 participating states, the price for one standard alcoholic drink averaged 80 cents. Findings indicated that for less than $11, you can buy 3 Four Lokos, or the equivalent of 17 standard alcoholic drinks. In comparison, for the same price you could only buy 4 Coca-Colas. 

View the RAD collaborative’s national data snapshot for more findings.

Contact Counter Tools to learn more about how you can assess the alcohol retail environment in your community.

Alaska
The Alliance
Recover Alaska

Arizona
Rise Up Glendale Coalition

Georgia
WestCare Georgia Coalition
Jenkins County Drug Free Coalition
AVPRIDE
One Johns Creek Coalition
Pathways2Life
Wayne County Recovery Coalition
Jeff Davis Substance Abuse Coalition
Share Health Southeast Georgia DFC Collaborative (Coffee, Jeff Davis, Wayne Counties)

Hawaii
Maui Coalition for Drug-Free Youth

Illinois
Stand Strong Coalition

Iowa
Jackson County Prevention Coalition

Maryland
Maryland Alcohol, Tobacco & Cannabis Network

Michigan
Alliance of Coalitions for Healthy Communities
SAFE, Northern Michigan
The Center For Urban Youth & Family Development
Michigan Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking
Prevention Network
Mid-Michigan District Health Department

Missouri
ADAPT – Taney and Stone Counties
Smithville Community in Action

Nebraska
Project Extra Mile

Nevada
PACT Coalition for Safe and Drug-Free Communities

New York
The Brooklyn W.A.Y.
Brooklyn Y.A.S

Ohio
McKinley Hall Clark County Partners in Prevention

South Carolina
Behavioral Health Services Pickens

Texas
The Coalition
Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth

Wisconsin
Marathon County Health Department
Vilas County Youth Coalition
Cardiff
Focus on Community
Walworth County Health & Human Services, Division of Public Health
Jefferson County Public Health
REACH
Near West Side Partners

Counter Tools is partnering with researchers from the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) to offer the RAD collaborative. The purpose of the RAD Collaborative is to equip participants with local data to support pricing and other policy strategies that reduce alcohol-related harms. For more information, contact us at hello@countertools.org.

View the recording, presentation slides, and more about the RAD Collaborative here.

In this webinar, the APRC will share their recently published Environmental Scan Toolkit, and Counter Tools will share why the point of sale matters for alcohol and your community. Register for the webinar here.

The alcohol industry is quite transparent in their goals to recruit new drinkers, including women, Hispanic consumers and “beer rejectors”. One strategy that has seen growing success over the course of the last 20 years is offering new products that are sweeter and easier to drink than traditional beer or distilled spirits. These flavored malt beverages, sometimes referred to as alcopops or ready-to-drink beverages, feature low prices, a variety of flavors, high alcohol content and are widely available. Product packaging often features bright colors and eye-catching designs. In recent years, a number of new beverage options have hit the market. Brands popular for non-alcoholic products already familiar to children and youth, like Mountain Dew, are developing these new beverages. This strategy of using flavors to make a product more appealing and palatable for youth or other new consumers comes straight from Big Tobacco’s playbook.  

These types of products are increasingly available in convenience stores, grocery stores and mass merchandisers across the country. These places are all easily accessible to youth under the age of 21 – leaving plenty of opportunities for regular exposure to alcohol marketing and promotions. Research shows alcohol advertising has a meaningful impact on youth, including associations with heavier drinking, brand recognition or brand preference and the perception that alcohol consumption is more prevalent among peers. In fact, one study calculated that for each dollar spent on advertising, young people drank 3% more each month. All youth are exposed to alcohol advertising on an almost daily basis, but African American and Hispanic youth are exposed to more alcohol advertising than white youth.  

Many studies have found that as price increases, alcohol consumption decreases, which is why the alcohol industry has employed a number of strategies to keep alcohol cheap at the point of sale. This includes happy hours or specials at on-premises outlets, and coupons, sales or multi-buy discounts at off-premises retailers. With so many beverage options now available in single-serve containers – including canned wine, cocktails or other flavored malt beverages – shoppers are encouraged to make impulse purchases. Price-sensitive consumers are also able to find something that fits with their budget. In some cases, singles with extremely high alcohol content can be priced cheaper per fluid ounce than regular, nonalcoholic energy drinks or soda. With alcohol so easily available and advertised heavily at so many price points, it is no surprise to see underage alcohol use and other problem drinking behaviors.  

Differences in alcohol availability can help explain why alcohol-related harms impact some communities more heavily than others. One way to measure alcohol availability is to examine alcohol outlet density, or the concentration of retail alcohol establishments in a given geographic area. Research demonstrates that greater alcohol outlet density leads to increased excessive alcohol use and ultimately greater alcohol related harms, such as violence, traffic crashes, and property damage. Alcohol outlet density varies widely among states and communities. An understanding of the differences across geographies and demographics should guide the development of public health interventions for reducing alcohol outlet density. Research shows that neighborhoods with a higher proportion of Black residents or more families living in poverty tend to have a higher alcohol outlet density. Mapping of alcohol outlet density in Durham, North Carolina and Baltimore City, Maryland found areas with a history of redlining to be a strong predictor of where alcohol outlets cluster, even many decades later. There is strong scientific evidence that regulating alcohol outlet density is one of the most effective strategies for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. Alcohol outlet density can be regulated through licensing or zoning restrictions that cap the number of alcohol outlets or restrict the locations where alcohol can be sold.  

 Learn more:  

• CADCA Webinar Wednesday Recording: Addressing Health Equity with Alcohol Density Regulation 
• Guide for Measuring Alcohol Outlet Density (CDC) 
• Regulating Alcohol Outlet Density: An Action Guide (CADCA) 

This post was originally published as a feature article for The Geographic Health Equity Alliance (GHEA), a CADCA initiative. GHEA is a CDC funded National Network dedicated to reducing geographic health disparities related to tobacco and cancer. 

With the industry’s efforts to ensure alcohol is available and marketed everywhere we look, it’s no real surprise to hear of its desirability among underage drinkers. Convenience stores, grocery stores, and mass merchandisers account for a majority of retail sales for beer and malt beverages – all places easily accessible to youth under the age of 21 – leaving plenty of opportunities for regular exposure to alcohol marketing and promotions. The impacts of the exposure to alcohol advertising on youth closely mirror those found for tobacco, including initiation or continuation of use, and brand recognition or brand preference. Additionally, youth who are exposed to alcohol advertisements perceive alcohol consumption to be more common among their peers. With alcohol easily accessible, this advertising is often visible in close proximity to areas with a high concentration of youth, such as schools or parks. Similarly, a high concentration of alcohol retailers, or a high alcohol outlet density, has associations with increased alcohol consumption leading to a number of public health and safety concerns, such as violence, traffic crashes, and property damage. 

What can we do to protect the youth in our communities? According to the CDC, there are several evidence-based strategies that has the potential to reduce underage consumption by directly targeting the retail environment: 

1. Regulate alcohol outlet density. Licensing and zoning restrictions can be used to limit the number or concentration of alcohol retailers in an area. 
2. Increase alcohol taxes. Alcohol taxes may include excise, ad valorem, or sales taxes, all of which affect the price of alcohol. Taxes can be levied at the federal, state, or local level on beer, wine or distilled spirits.
3. Enhanced enforcement of laws prohibiting sales to minors. An enhanced enforcement program initiates or increases compliance checks at alcohol retailers (such as bars, restaurants, and liquor stores).

Want to learn more about the alcohol retail environment in your community? Counter Tools can help! Contact help@countertools.org for more information on how to assess the retail environment, map alcohol outlet locations, measure alcohol outlet density, and formulate policy solutions.

Obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the retail environment is a key first step to implementing successful point-of-sale policy changes. Store assessments (also referred to as store audits or observations) allow communities to collect data about what is happening in the retail environment. This information is important for educating the public, policymakers, and youth about the deceptive marketing tactics that are used by the tobacco and alcohol industries. Using store assessments, public health practitioners can get insight into the types of products available and how these products are advertised, information that can be instrumental in formulating policy solutions to address a community’s specific problems. 

Along with providing useful evidence for guiding policy goals, store assessments have several additional benefits: 

1. Conducting store assessments can be a great opportunity to engage community members and educate decision makers, allowing them a firsthand look at the ways harmful products are being promoted near the places they live, work and play. 
2. Using a standardized store assessment allows for comparison between neighborhoods. Rather than simply comparing differences in tobacco or alcohol use, store assessment data can tell the story of how the retail environment drives these disparities. For example, store assessments might show that one neighborhood has more alcohol or tobacco outlets with lower prices, making it easier for price sensitive groups, like youth, to purchase these products. 
3. Lastly, store assessments are a valuable tool for evaluating changes – Have retailers moved products from children’s eye level following your merchant education campaign? Have prices increased following a ban on coupons? Answering these types of questions would not be possible without the ability to compare the retail environment before and after using store assessments. 

For the past 10 years, Counter Tools has provided training, technology tools, and technical assistance to public health practitioners conducting store assessments all across the country. To find out more about how we can support your store assessment efforts, contact hello@countertools.org.

An alcohol outlet is a term used to describe the retail environment, specifically referring to a place where alcohol may be legally sold for the buyer to drink there (on-premises outlets, such as bars or restaurants) or elsewhere (off-premises outlets, such as liquor stores). Knowing where these outlets are located throughout your community can be beneficial in informing policy and programmatic strategies. 

Mapping alcohol outlets can answer a number of questions about the retail environment:

What is alcohol outlet density? 

Alcohol outlet density is defined as the number of physical locations in which alcoholic beverages are available for purchase either per area or per population. Increased alcohol availability is associated with increased alcohol consumption that can lead to a number of public health and safety concerns, such as violence, traffic crashes, and property damage. 

How does the alcohol outlet density compare to other locations? How does the measure change based on demographics? 

Because alcohol outlet density varies widely among states and communities, an understanding of these differences across geographies and across demographics should guide the development of public health interventions for reducing alcohol outlet density. Research shows that neighborhoods with a higher proportion of Black residents or more families living in poverty tend to have a higher alcohol outlet density. 

• How would policy impact the retailer landscape?

There is strong scientific evidence that regulating alcohol outlet density is one of the most effective strategies for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. Alcohol outlet density can be regulated through licensing or zoning restrictions that can cap the number of alcohol outlets or restrict the locations where alcohol can be sold. Mapping offers the ability to visualize the specific retailers that will be impacted by a policy and the potential of the policy to address disparities in retailer density. 

The images included in this post are screenshots from Counter Tools’ Virginia Store Mapper. The Store Mapper is a web-based software tool for visualizing, analyzing, and synthesizing the retailer landscape. The Store Mapper can incorporate point locations for tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis retailers. To learn more about strategies for addressing the retail environment or to inquire about our software tool, contact help@countertools.org. 

We often see innovative policy solutions tested first at the local-level. In this webinar, you’ll learn about alcoholic beverage regulations in Montgomery County, the sole “control” jurisdiction in the state of Maryland and one of very few jurisdictions across the country to use this model. You’ll hear about efforts at the county level in Maryland to advance policies that make the food and beverage options on restaurant kids’ meal menus healthier, with a strategy of spreading these policies throughout the state and an eye towards a state-level law.

We also highlight the City of Berkeley, California, the first city in the nation to levy a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, as well as the first in the country to pass a healthy checkout policy.

In this third webinar of the Local Control webinar series on August 22, CADCA’s Geographic Health Equity Alliance, in collaboration with Counter Tools share details about these local solutions. The three-part webinar series equips attendees with an understanding of why local policy solutions are important, lessons learned from local policy implementation efforts and innovative policy strategies built at the local-level.

View the recording:

Local Control webinar series

CADCA’s Geographic Health Equity Alliance, in collaboration with Counter Tools hosted a three-part webinar series to equip attendees with an understanding of why local policy solutions are important, lessons learned from local policy implementation efforts and innovative policy strategies built at the local-level.

Webinar 1: Building the Rationale for Local Policy Change. Speakers provided a broad rationale for local-level policy efforts and the implications for public health, as well as insight on strategies that have proven successful for local policy implementation.

Webinar 2: Using Local Momentum to Drive State and Federal Policy Change. This webinar featured leaders from the Tobacco 21 and smokefree air movements to discuss how tobacco control policy strategies at the local level helped drive policy change across the country.

Webinar 3:  Innovative Local Solutions in Public Health. The third webinar in the series covered local-level policy solutions in Maryland and California. These efforts advanced policies relating to alcohol and healthy food.