Most neighborhood liquor stores merely need to deal with shaky alcoholics when they open in the morning. East Village Wines is coping with a far more frightening plague today: reporters.

This morning, Drudge picked up on a Reuters story from Wednesday on the First Avenue liquor store—just for kicks, the store accepts Euros as well as dollars. For journalists, this is a possibly telling anecdote about the state of the American economy!

On February 3, the New York Times mentioned the store's Europe-loving ways; the Villager hit this back in January. A freelancer for the New York Observer hit it back in March 2005.

Thing is, the store's been accepting Euros since "2001, 2002," according to Imran Ahmed, East Village Wine's "store manager, wine consultant," who was on duty this morning.

A reporter from TheStreet.com was in the shop with her video camera.

"I don't know what to do!" Ahmed said. "I opened the door—." The phone rang.

The woman from TheStreet.com realized she hadn't gotten the audio right on her interview. "I just want that last sentence again," she told him.

"What's the point of all this?" she asked him.

"I think it's just for fun," he said.

"Can I get you just putting together some bottles?" she asked him. He obligingly arranged some Hennessy and Courvoisier. "Come over here, there's better light," she said. He went out from behind the counter to arrange the Spanish wines.

"I hope it's not a big issue," he said.

"It's on all the websites today," she said.

"Hopefully brings a lot of business for us," he said.

Ahmed has worked there 10 years; the same family has owned it for about 40, and before that, it was ... a liquor store.

"I hope this doesn't make a bad impact on us," Ahmed said. "We're not breaking any constitutional rights."

The phone rang.

"I think it's going to be a long day today," he said.