Chef Jim Posted April 24, 2009 Author Share Posted April 24, 2009 you just figured that out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Senator Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 The smaller winery lobby probably is not a reason. Let's be serious here, how much of their wine is actually sold in liquor stores to begin with? Most of their wine is sold at the winery itself or through wine clubs. The mom and pop arguement is a bad one too. As we've mentioned there are plenty of grocery stores here in CA selling wine, but we still have mom and pop run liquor stores on every corner. NY screwed the pooch on this one. I love the California laws, Chef - as The Dean pointed out, there were plenty of 7 AM Sunday morning runs to the corner market to stock up on booze and wine for the 10 AM Bills kickoffs. Personally I am very much in favor of the proposal. I'd love to be able to make one stop at a Wegman's for groceries and wine, rather than multiple stops at multiple stores. Gov. Paterson also wanted the bill, as he saw a potential $100M+ in fees to allow grocery stores to sell wine, plus additional tax revenues as overall wine sales and consumption would increase. He even offered some concessions like allowing liquor stores to sell snacks, soda, etc. - believe it or not, they are not currently even allowed to sell corkscrews! Ultimately, the state legislature caved to a massive lobbying effort by the liquor store owners. Here's the 'small winery' position - Vintners, stores offer views on wine sale issue And here's how the small liquor store owners feel - Wine in Grocery Stores Proposal Is Killed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 24, 2009 Author Share Posted April 24, 2009 I love the California laws, Chef - as The Dean pointed out, there were plenty of 7 AM Sunday morning runs to the corner market to stock up on booze and wine for the 10 AM Bills kickoffs. Personally I am very much in favor of the proposal. I'd love to be able to make one stop at a Wegman's for groceries and wine, rather than multiple stops at multiple stores. Gov. Paterson also wanted the bill, as he saw a potential $100M+ in fees to allow grocery stores to sell wine plus, additional tax revenues as overall wine sales and consumption would increase. He even offered some concessions like allowing liquor stores to sell snacks, soda, etc. - believe it or not, they are not currently even allowed to sell corkscrews! Ultimately, the state legislature caved to a massive lobbying effort by the liquor store owners. Here's the 'small winery' position - Vintners, stores offer views on wine sale issue And here's how the small liquor store owners feel - Wine in Grocery Stores Proposal Is Killed Politics...it all dirty business. It appears that the wants of the few outweigh the needs of the many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Considering NYS has a considerable wine economy it's shocking wine is not sold in supermarkets and drug stores. Mass. just had a vote. The Liquor Store lobby had TV ads showing cheifs of police warning citizens that wine in supermarkets would lead to alcoholic grade schoolers. (I exaggerate...but only sightly.) The biggest crock of ca-ca I've ever seen in a politcal ad. Why don't the liquor stires just admit that they like their monopolies and don't want supermarkets horing in on them? PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjeff215 Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Here in GA one can buy wine at a grocery store six days a week. No alcohol sales on Sunday. Period. It came up again a year or so back and our governor said something like "I don't think Georgia is ready for that." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el Tigre Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 I usually buy my Night Train at 7-11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 24, 2009 Author Share Posted April 24, 2009 Here in GA one can buy wine at a grocery store six days a week. No alcohol sales on Sunday. Period. It came up again a year or so back and our governor said something like "I don't think Georgia is ready for that." If I remember correctly when I lived in SC doing my externship from culinary school we would have to go to GA to get booze on Sunday if we forgot to stock up Saturday night. This was nearly 30 years ago but I could have sworn GA had liquor sales on Sunday. I just have a hard time with no booze on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricojes Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Article from the Buffalo News Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjeff215 Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 If I remember correctly when I lived in SC doing my externship from culinary school we would have to go to GA to get booze on Sunday if we forgot to stock up Saturday night. This was nearly 30 years ago but I could have sworn GA had liquor sales on Sunday. I just have a hard time with no booze on Sunday. We may have at one point. They probably stopped it at about the same time they put the anti-evolution stickers on science books! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 I'm very much for traditional values. Wine is best served from a glass bottle residing in a paper bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 The Liquor Store lobby had TV ads showing cheifs of police warning citizens that wine in supermarkets would lead to alcoholic grade schoolers. (I exaggerate...but only sightly.) The biggest crock of ca-ca I've ever seen in a politcal ad. Why don't the liquor stires just admit that they like their monopolies and don't want supermarkets horing in on them? PTR Because nobody likes to tell the truth when it comes to such things. In Ohio, beer and wine are available at grocery stores. Ohio used to have state-controlled liquor stores, but those were phased out in the early 90s and private sellers took over in exchange for paying a commission to the department of liquor control. So, by that rule, grocery stores can carry hard liquor (many of the chain stores do) if they are licensed and pay the commission fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PushthePile Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 The smaller winery lobby probably is not a reason. Let's be serious here, how much of their wine is actually sold in liquor stores to begin with? Most of their wine is sold at the winery itself or through wine clubs. The mom and pop arguement is a bad one too. As we've mentioned there are plenty of grocery stores here in CA selling wine, but we still have mom and pop run liquor stores on every corner. NY screwed the pooch on this one. I've got to disagree with you Chef. The finger lake wineries are very well represented in many of the local liquor stores. I've heard a few radio shows featuring liquor store owners and winery owners, who feel they will be pushed out of business. They believe that the supermarkets will drop prices below what the smaller stores could afford to match. Combine this with the convenience of all in one shopping, and they have a point. From what I heard on the radio, wine is always their biggest profit/mark up, as well. As we have seen in the past, a store like Wegmans will drop prices until they defeat the competition, and then jack them up again. If a store like Wegmans gets to sell wine, you can say goodbye to many mom and pop liquor store. I don't have any real reason to oppose it, but I'd much rather see the business go to the little guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 The smaller winery lobby probably is not a reason. Let's be serious here, how much of their wine is actually sold in liquor stores to begin with? Most of their wine is sold at the winery itself or through wine clubs. The mom and pop arguement is a bad one too. As we've mentioned there are plenty of grocery stores here in CA selling wine, but we still have mom and pop run liquor stores on every corner. NY screwed the pooch on this one. In all honesty, I think NYS wineries (large and small) would do better, if Wegmans and Tops, etc, sold wine. Here in Florida, the big Supermarkets in Florida sell a s#itload of wine from the local winery in St Augustine, San Sebastian Winery. Really nice people own it. Really below-average, and not worth the money wine, IMO. But, the markets use the local wine/Florida thing to their advantage. With that said, I can imagine the smaller wineries being against it because it is change, change is risk...etc. They probably have nice relationships with their "friendly" liquor stores that do a good job selling their wine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Quint Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 In South Jersey, there is a Super Shop Rite that's giving Wegman's a run for their money because they sell liquor and neither of the local Wegman's will do it. They have everything that Wegman's has, plus a huge selection of liquor, beer, and wine (you can buy a $300 case of St. Bernardus there). They've already put a few local liquor stores out of business, but there are so many that it probably isn't going to affect many of them. The law in New Jersey is that wine & beer can be sold 24/7, but liquor can only be sold between the hours of 9am-10pm, 7 days a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damj Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 I hear alot of whine in the supermarket, usually in the cereal aisle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Because nobody likes to tell the truth when it comes to such things. In Ohio, beer and wine are available at grocery stores. Ohio used to have state-controlled liquor stores, but those were phased out in the early 90s and private sellers took over in exchange for paying a commission to the department of liquor control. So, by that rule, grocery stores can carry hard liquor (many of the chain stores do) if they are licensed and pay the commission fee. That's ironic. New Hampshire is considering the same arrangement. We have state liquor stores too, only ours are located at interstate rest stops! Remember kid's, don't drink and drive...and by the way there's a sale on Cuervo this week. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 25, 2009 Author Share Posted April 25, 2009 I've got to disagree with you Chef. The finger lake wineries are very well represented in many of the local liquor stores. I've heard a few radio shows featuring liquor store owners and winery owners, who feel they will be pushed out of business. They believe that the supermarkets will drop prices below what the smaller stores could afford to match. Combine this with the convenience of all in one shopping, and they have a point. From what I heard on the radio, wine is always their biggest profit/mark up, as well. As we have seen in the past, a store like Wegmans will drop prices until they defeat the competition, and then jack them up again. If a store like Wegmans gets to sell wine, you can say goodbye to many mom and pop liquor store. I don't have any real reason to oppose it, but I'd much rather see the business go to the little guys. Once again they sell wine in every grocery store, gas station and even car washes here in CA. It has not effected the small wineries or mom and pop grocery stores at all. With the amount of tax dollars collected from the sale of liquor how could the government not pass this? If they allowed the liquor stores to sell more than liquor they'd survive. I would imagine that out here liquor stores (more commonly called convenience stores) generate most of their revenue from items other than liquor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Once again they sell wine in every grocery store, gas station and even car washes here in CA. It has not effected the small wineries or mom and pop grocery stores at all. With the amount of tax dollars collected from the sale of liquor how could the government not pass this? If they allowed the liquor stores to sell more than liquor they'd survive. I would imagine that out here liquor stores (more commonly called convenience stores) generate most of their revenue from items other than liquor. California is different than New York because of population concentration. I think there is validity to killing off the mom and pop places Upstate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 25, 2009 Author Share Posted April 25, 2009 California is different than New York because of population concentration. I think there is validity to killing off the mom and pop places Upstate. I'm not sure what you mean by this. Are you saying that there are no rural parts of CA. If so you're absolutely wrong. I think the main difference is that he CA in a "liquor" store the smallest concentration of items is actually liquor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Senator Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 That's ironic. New Hampshire is considering the same arrangement. We have state liquor stores too, only ours are located at interstate rest stops! Remember kid's, don't drink and drive...and by the way there's a sale on Cuervo this week. PTR I was always amused that NH deliberately locates giant state liquor 'supermarkets' at the rest stops just over the state line - they're practically inviting everyone, "Hey, hop in your car & come on up for a trunkload of tax-free booze!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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