Marc Gruninger’s The Liquor Store Series documents storefronts photographed across the United States. The first-person statement below is the photographer’s account of the project at the time; the restored gallery follows.

The Liquor Store Series by Marc Gruninger

I am a swiss-american Photographer based in Berlin at the time of this statement. In my visual approach, I emphasize on capturing the raw essence of whatever I get in front of my lens, thus visually express my perception of truth. I had mostly worked as Freelance Portrait Photographer in LA – shooting musicians and artists – before I created my first Fine Art Project in 2011.”

In March 2013, shortly before I was about to take a hiatus from Los Angeles after living there for 7 years, the idea of documenting America’s Liquor Stores emerged. Not only did I have a peculiar fondness for the sheer look of Liquor Stores it but I was also baffled by the amount of them in my area, and the diverse range of people that would go there – whether it was for the occasion of celebrating or drowning their sorrows in alcohol – young and old people, from all ethnical and social backgrounds.”

I came to the conclusion that I wanted to do Series about Liquor Stores around the country while talking to owners, customers, and locals alike. It would give me the broadest spectrum and deepest insights about all the colors, cultures, and personalities of people that convey the ‘The American Dream’ – or give us an idea to maybe look at it from a different point of view.”

I started my Journey in January 2014 in Los Angeles, California. It would take me to the East Coast and back West – 30,000km through about 37 States in approximately 100 days – returning with over a hundred Liquor Stores and countless portraits shot, leaving me with a broader vision about what and who makes this country the land of dreams, whether they may be intact or broken…

White roadside liquor store with a blue awning.SaveLiquor store with painted walls and roadside signs.SaveSmall blue and yellow storefront beneath leafless trees.SaveBrick liquor store with a red sign and a tree by the entrance.SaveWhite roadside building with faded paint and a low awning.SaveLiquor store reflected in a puddle beside its parking lot.SaveTurquoise liquor storefront with hand-painted lettering.SaveLow liquor store beside a roadside sign and desert trees.SaveLow roadside liquor store with signs for beer and bait.SaveSam Wai Liquor Store storefront with yellow and red signage.SaveLiquor store beneath apartment windows on a city block.SaveLow liquor storefront on a corner beneath a cloudy sky.SaveWeathered wall with painted horses beside a liquor store entrance.SaveOWL Liquors storefront at dusk beneath a red and white sign.SaveWeathered wall with a faded mural of running horses, beside a portable sign for Dewey's music and a Coors sign.SaveCorner liquor shop with a large red sign and street traffic.SaveAged stucco liquor store on a corner with wall signs.SaveLiquor store storefront covered with posters and signs beneath a blue sky.SaveWeathered wooden liquor store behind a sidewalk.SavePink roadside liquor store complex around an empty parking lot.Save