‘I can spot them a mile off’: community shopkeepers’ experience of alcohol test-purchasing

Test-purchasing (using volunteers to attempt an apparent underage purchase) can be used as an enforcement intervention against retailers who sell alcohol to minors. This paper will investigate whether community shopkeepers, familiar with alcohol test-purchasing protocols, are able to distinguish volunteers from genuine underage customers. Thirty-six qualitative interviews were conducted with community shopkeepers, the retailers most often associated with under-age sales, working in convenience stores located in socially-contrasting areas of Glasgow, Scotland, 24 of which were licensed to sell alcohol.