New law allows customers to drink while shopping at Desert Ridge

PHOENIX — A new state law will allow customers to drink while shopping at a north Phoenix mall starting Friday.

Desert Ridge Marketplace will have a mobile bar stationed outside of Copper Blues Live every weekend, according to a press release.

The new drink-and-shop option is available thanks to a law signed in April that allows qualified retail properties to use an existing bar or restaurant to serve alcohol outside of the establishment.

Shoppers can then walk around with their drinks and shop, like in areas of Las Vegas and New Orleans.

“You can get a drink at a movie theater and walk around resorts and golf courses with a cocktail, so why not retail centers?” Vestar President David Larcher, the company that owns Desert Ridge, said in the release.

Desert Ridge is one of 10 shopping centers across the state that qualify for the program, which requires a center to be more than 400,000 square feet.

The mobile bar will be open on Friday from 4 p.m. to midnight, Saturday from noon to midnight and Sunday from noon to 7 p.m.

Construction is underway for a permanent mobile bar, which will also be operated by Copper Blues.

It will be called Copper Cantina and is expected to open in January, according to the release.

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