Photo by LaTur

The federal government shutdown, which may be over soon, has hurt D.C. in a number of ways.

At a press conference today with leaders from Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, Mayor Vincent Gray laid out the ways the shutdown has hurt tax revenue (with $6 million lost per week), hotel bookings (down 8.3 percent during the first week of October when compared with last year) and revenue (down $2 million) and restaurant traffic (down 7 percent).

But one industry that isn’t hurting in D.C., Gray reported? Booze sales at restaurants. “I won’t try to speculate why,” the mayor said.

In an email, the mayor’s office specifies that “There was a 3 percent increase in restaurant beverage (primarily liquor) sales during the first week of October 2013 compared to the first week of September of this year.”

Check-in app Foursquare backs this up as well: “During the first week of the shutdown, check-ins at bars increased by over 50 percent. Over time, though, bars returned back to or below pre-shutdown levels, and more people were going to dive bars than usual.”

But it doesn’t seem the love extended to brick and mortar shops that sell booze. Josh Genderson, who owns Schneider’s on Capitol Hill, says liquor sales are “always up the first week in October.” It’s just something about the change in season, he explained.

He also reported seeing a negative effect on business during the shutdown, due to workers being furloughed.

Capitol Hill Wine & Spirits is also feeling the pain. Owner Fevita Malhotra said there aren’t “enough people to visit the store,” and that sales are down.

Let’s hope this shutdown ends soon so D.C. can get back to drinking as usual.