Ding Dong, It's Closing Time For Boston-Founded Drizly Alcohol Delivery Service

BOSTON, MA — Ding dong, it's closing time at Drizly.

Drizly, the Boston-founded alcohol delivery service with the ubiquitous commercials that soared in popularity during the COVID-19 health crisis, is shutting down this spring.

The company, which was founded by students at Boston College a decade ago and rapidly grew during the height of the pandemic as a way for folks to get 12 packs of beer and bottles of wine and alcohol brought straight to their door without having to interact with the outside world, was sold to Uber for about $1.1 billion in 2021.

While its commercial presence remained omnipresent, its operations became redundant as Uber Eats — and other food delivery companies such as Door Dash — provide largely the same booze-based services, with the option of also getting groceries delivered with your White Claw or favorite whiskey.

"Turns out, it's true what they say," Drizly said in a statement on the closing on its social media platforms. "All good things must come to an end."

The company said it is "shutting down slowly" and will continue to take orders through the end of March — which, quite conveniently, includes St. Patrick's Day and the fourth anniversary of the worldwide commercial, business, and life-as-we-knew-it shutdowns that spurred the service's great popularity.

The company urged its customers to switch their allegiances to the parent company's Uber Eats platform.

"You'll probably feel at home at Uber Eats as the drink selection you know and love is available here," the statement said. "And look — we get it. They're tall. They're dapper. And they will deliver almost anything.

"We think you'll be really good together."

The company said it will continue to offer promotions through the end of its run and then beyond for Uber Eats.

It also apologized to dog owners for all the doorbell ringing in its commercials in recent years as part of its slogan: "Ding dong, it's Drizly."

According to its website, the company began with a conversation among Boston College students and friends frustrated with the inability to get alcohol delivered to the dorms. When they determined that possibility was, in fact — and somewhat surprisingly at the time — a legal one, they set out to form the company that Drizly said became "the largest online marketplace for alcohol in North America."

Drizly offered customers running low on spirits and ambition to interact with the outside world the chance to comparison shop on their phones and get their selections delivered in less than 60 minutes guaranteed.

Their reach eventually grew to more than 1,400 cities with a potential customer base of more than 100 million people across the United States and Canada.

Drizly was founded in 2012 and launched in the Boston area in 2013.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)