Drinkers, gardeners rank D.C. tops

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By Whitney Stewart

The typical Washington day starts off with a cup of coffee and winds down with a cocktail and some gardening, a study suggests.

The international business intelligence group Asterop has identified the Washington metropolitan area as the strongest retail market in the nation for coffee, alcohol and lawn and garden supplies.

Some say the strong markets for those products might relate to stress levels or to the perceived importance of socializing.

"It may be in the D.C. area because there's so much networking and the social aspects of meeting people and networking produce more interactions where people sit down and have a drink together or have a cup of coffee together," said Maryland.

"I think that's a positive take on it. The negative take on it is that people use it to deal with their stress. I think it's pretty clear that in this area, people have a high level of stress. ... I can't say there's a cause or effect, but I could say there's certainly a stress relationship," she said.

Ms. Alvord said studies show that caffeine may affect feelings of stress and people often garden or drink alcohol to relieve stress.

Adams Morgan section of Washington, agreed that his customers drink alcohol to unwind.

"There might be a lot of drinking in this town because it's a stressful city," he said. "This is an island of relaxation in a stressful sea."

But owners of other Washington drinking establishments argued that visitors, not the locals, are responsible for the top ranking.

"Washington has traditionally sold more liquor than any other metro area in the East," said Perry Luntz, publisher and editor of Beverage Alcohol Market Report. "But we all know D.C. primarily feeds the suburbs. Consumption per capita has never gone up. These are mostly people who work in Washington and live in the suburbs."