Can You Buy Alcohol With a Gift Card at Target, Walmart, etc? Answered

Can You Buy Alcohol With a Gift Card?

You can buy alcohol with a gift card at many chain retailers as long as you are at least the minimum drinking age. We contacted stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia to find out if you can purchase alcohol with a gift card.

While all of the locations we spoke with allow customers to purchase alcohol in-store with a gift card, note that states, cities, and counties are allowed to create their own rules regarding alcohol sales, so individual location policies may vary. The following retailers generally allow the purchase of alcohol (including beer, wine, and other types) with a gift card:

• ALDI (except with ALDI gift cards designated “food only”)
• BJ’s Wholesale Club
• Costco
• Giant Eagle (except with Giant Eagle’s in-store return credit)
• H-E-B
• Hy-Vee
• Meijer (except with Meijer’s designated “food only” gift card^[1])
• Publix
• Target
• Trader Joe’s
• Walmart (except with Walmart’s Alcohol/Tobacco/Firearms/Lottery Prohibited gift card^[2])
• Wegmans
• Whole Foods

Note: Our related research features the details on where to return alcohol, as well as Walmart’s alcohol sales hours.

Restaurant Gift Cards

Restaurant gift cards are usually valid on all food and drink purchases, including alcoholic beverages, unless the law prohibits it. Customer service representatives at Applebee’s^[3], Chili’s^[4], Olive Garden^[5], Outback Steakhouse^[6], Red Lobster^[7], and TGI Fridays^[8] confirm that gift cards are good for food and beverages (alcoholic or not).

Where You Can’t Buy Alcohol With a Gift Card

In the course of our research, we found that the following retailers do not allow alcohol purchases with a gift card:

• Albertsons
• CVS
• Kroger
• Rite Aid
• Sam’s Club
• ShopRite
• Walgreens