Posted March 24th, 2009 at 11:59AMFinally, the Governor’s office has come up with a reasonable plan to increase state revenue. Shocked?
New York is one of 15 states to still limit wine sales to liquor stores. Grocers are limited to selling beer, which means a scant 2,700 non-restaurant retail locations selling wine across the state. That puts NY 46th among all states in number of outlets per capita for the purchase of wine. And we’re actually a wine producing state, believe it or not – the third largest producer behind California and Washington.
Lifting the ban and allowing licensed grocers to supply wine seems a no-brainer.
- NY consumers would save some $80 million a year with the increased competition in sales
- NY state will see an additional $159 million in the first two years as a result of the change – much of that in licensing fees alone
- State wine producers will see increased demand
- And an estimated 2,000 net jobs will be created per an American Economics Group study
New Yorkers support the measure by two to one, with the only obvious lobby against being… drum roll… Liquor stores, currently enjoying their monopoly. In the face of change, a lot of unsubstantiated claims have been made about increased availability to minors, as well as job losses. Apparently “mom and pop” liquor stores across the state will shutter as underaged teens wholesale adopt wine as their drink of choice.
Fortunately, we have 35 other states to observe and determine whether these claims are valid. Right across the state border, in Vermont, liquor stores co-exist peacefully with grocers selling wine. Massachusetts, for their part, already had this discussion several years back and came to a conclusion at odds with NY’s liquor store lobby:
A newly released study of the Massachusetts Wine at Food Stores Initiative concluded that updating state law to allow grocery stores to sell wine would save Massachusetts consumers an estimated $26 to $36 million dollars each year. The study noted that data from the 34 other states that already allow grocery stores to sell wine show that grocery stores are as good or better than package stores at enforcing minimum drinking age laws and that competition in wine sales from grocery stores does not drive package stores out of business.
Looking at the statistics, it’s clear that there is an untapped potential in wine sales here. Meanwhile, as Massachusetts found, liquor stores will still have their place for liquor, wine, and specialty drinks, as well as the expertise and knowledge in regards to what they sell. Because anyone who thinks Wal-Mart selling wine will drive “mom and pop” out of the liquor biz has obviously never asked a Wal-Mart employee a question (I mean really). With grocers like Wegmans remaining committed to selling local products, I forecast a boom for state wineries. Let’s put them back on the map, and wine on our tables.
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