PORTLAND – Buying booze just got easier.

Thirty-one stores around Maine have begun selling liquor, or soon will, after receiving state-issued licenses in the past couple of months. The deluge of licenses is possible because of a new law that eliminates distance restrictions on who can sell liquor, and allows some cities to have up to six liquor outlets.

Stores that sold alcohol used to have to be at least 31/2 miles from each other. Soon, stores within blocks of each other will have liquor on their shelves.

And in some communities, consumers will have three times as many places to buy alcohol as they had just a few weeks ago.

In Houlton, for instance, three businesses are now licensed to sell liquor in place of the lone state-run store that has closed.

Lynn Cayford, director of liquor enforcement and licensing with Department of Public Safety, said the new law will make alcohol purchases more convenient for consumers, and more profitable for the state.

“Hopefully sales will be even and profits will be ahead because we’re getting rid of some of the operating costs,” Cayford said.

But Sam DiPietro, owner of DiPietro’s Market in South Portland, said the new law will devastate small stores that will compete against chains such as Hannaford Bros. Co. and Shaw’s Supermarkets and Rite-Aid drug stores. He said alcohol accounts for 40 percent of his store’s annual sales.

DiPietro’s was the exclusive alcohol outlet for much of South Portland. But now a Hannaford store sells alcohol, and soon a Shaw’s supermarket will; those stores are a couple of blocks from one another and less than a mile from DiPietro’s store.

“I just think it’s so unfair to change the rules in the middle of the ballgame,” he said.

Maine has a long and colorful history when it comes to alcohol sales.

The state was the first in the nation to outlaw the sale of alcoholic beverages when it passed the infamous “Maine Law” in 1851. Still, bootleggers had no shortage of customers and thousands of people were arrested each year for drunkenness.

Maine remained a dry state until 1934, shortly after the nationwide Prohibition was repealed.

The state has kept a tight rein on liquor sales ever since. As recently as the 1970s, the only places to buy liquor were state-operated stores, which were few and far between and closed at 5 p.m.

Before the 31/2-mile limit was put into place, the state required that liquor outlets be at least 10 miles apart.

The state for years has talked about getting out of the retail end of the liquor business – and has slowly been getting there.

Cayford said the new licenses issued in September and October are the most he’s ever seen issued in such a short period of time.

With the new licenses, there are now 240 agency licenses in the state, and only 13 state-operated stores. Cayford said six state-run stores closed last month, on top of the eight that shut down last year.

A decade ago, there were 70 state-run stores and 70 agency stores, he said.

The new law will be more noticeable in some towns than others. The law now allows cities with more than 20,000 people to have up to six outlets.

For instance, the state issued three new liquor licenses for businesses in South Portland, Biddeford and Houlton. Bridgton, Dover-Foxcroft, Old Town and Skowhegan have two new licenses each.

Other new licenses were issued for businesses in 14 other municipalities from Kittery in the south to Caribou in the north.

Bernard Rogan, spokesman for Shaw’s Supermarkets, said he understands DiPietro’s concerns, but thinks there is room for more liquor outlets.

“DiPietro’s is a firmly established location and people will continue to use it,” he said.

Even though buying liquor is easier than just a few weeks ago, it was even easier 170 years ago. Back then in Portland, there were more than 300 places to buy rum.