Sunday is for bonus activities like shopping and chores to help get ready for the week.
While there might be alcohol at some of those events, Olivia won’t be partaking.
She’s one of a growing cohort of Gen Zers who are opting out of America’s drinking culture.
It’s a choice that’s become increasingly popular in Olivia’s peer group.
“They don’t like the feeling of it.
“I think they’re a little less fatalistic about things.”
Existential considerations aside, for many younger Americans, drinking has become incidental to a good time.
It’s cheaper and more rewarding for them to opt for a different kind of connection.
And, for a growing subset of businesses, that could translate into huge dollar signs.
Becca Borowski, a 25-year-old Wisconsinite, said that she drank “way too much” in college.
I kind of just enjoyed more so that everyone was there.”
That seems to be a common sentiment among her peer group.
Gallup pollingfoundthat the share of 18- to 34-year-olds who drink alcoholic beverages has tumbled to a record low.
She says she only drank on weekends but would go hard when she did.
That meant a lost day on Sundays recovering from the inevitable hangover.
So cutting out drinking completely seemed like a logical next step.
These days, her evening activities include going to paint at an art cafe.
Alexandra Zauner, 34, quit drinking 10 years ago.
That led her to createLucille’s, a nonalcoholic bottle shop and tasting room in St. Paul, Minnesota.
She thinks people still want to experience nightlife they’re just opting not to do that at bars.
We have WiFi and lots of outlets and 45 seats," Panos said.
“We encourage people to sit down.
So we’re getting a lot of people who just want a cozy, warm spot right now.”
In Ohio, the rock-climbing walls at RockQuest are hopping on a Friday night.
That includes everyone from older high schoolers to college groups to first dates.
Carson said that the pandemic was a catalyst, of sorts people were stuck inside and getting antsy.
Now, some are opting for the thrill of the climb instead of the high of an alcohol buzz.
And so they get that excitement, they get that thrill," Carson said.
Now, she only drinks socially.
Kam Kobeissi, 44, has witnessed the Gen Z transformation firsthand.
Now, he’s getting to see the younger generation perform their own economic sleight of hand.
“I think it’s challenging everything across the board.”
Juliana Kaplanis a senior labor and inequality reporter on Business Insider’s economy team.
