For the first time in more than 70 years, a booze store has opened in Saudi Arabia, a diplomat reported on Wednesday. This is a further step toward social liberalization in the previously ultraconservative country, which is home to some of the holiest sites in Islam, according to the AP. The store in Riyadh, however exclusive to non-Muslim diplomats, opens at a time when Saudi Arabia’s assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hopes to gradually wean the country’s economy away from crude oil by promoting the kingdom as a travel and business destination. But there are still issues with the prince’s reputation outside, following the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and internalizing the strict Islamic values that have ruled its sandy stretches for many years.
Speaking under anonymity to discuss a difficult social issue in Saudi Arabia, the ambassador stated that the store is located in the Diplomatic Quarter of Riyadh, near a supermarket. Upon visiting the store on Wednesday, the ambassador likened it to a high-end duty-free shop seen at a major international airport. The ambassador stated that at the moment, the store only has two varieties of beer, wine, and spirits. The store’s employees requested that patrons provide their diplomatic identification and put their cell phones in pouches while they were inside. According to the envoy, a mobile app enables purchases on an allocation system. Alcohol consumption is prohibited in Islam and has been outlawed since the early 1950s in Saudi Arabia, one of the few countries to do so.
The inauguration of the store and an article in the English-language publication Arab News—owned by the state-aligned Saudi Research and Media Group—about new regulations controlling the sale of alcohol to diplomats in the country coincide. Saudi officials have not publicly responded to the report. “To curb the uncontrolled importation of these special goods and liquors within the diplomatic consignments” was how the rules were characterized. The newspaper said that the regulations went into force on Monday. For many years, a specialized service has allowed diplomats to bring alcohol into the kingdom for personal consumption while on official business.
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