A bill that would let New Yorkers buy wine in grocery stores has likely died on the vine — with the state’s powerful liquor store lobby insisting it would be bad for small businesses.
The legislation, which allows the Empire State to join 40 other states peddling vino at supermarkets, is unlikely to pass before lawmakers recess June 9, Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), who sponsored the bill with Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter (D-Syracuse), said Thursday.
“I don’t believe we’ll get it done this year. In fact, I know we won’t get it done this year,” Krueger said.
“But I’m hoping that New Yorkers will take a look at our whole approach to how and where we sell different kinds of alcohol and say, ‘This doesn’t really make sense anymore’.”
Krueger was forced to put the wine bill on ice after liquor stores and wholesalers — including two with a near-monopoly on sales — fought to protect their control over the market, she said.
The change would let full-service grocery stores and supermarkets sell wine in New York. The legislation excludes convenience stores and big box retailers and offers incentives for stores to stock shelves with local New York wines, including from the Riesling-famous Finger Lakes region.
Told about the corked bill, Big Apple wine buffs said the state’s outdated alcohol rules leave shoppers high and dry.
“Wine should not be limited to [liquor stores]. It’s not even Hennessy or some sh*t like that,” said Mark Daley, a 50-year-old disc jockey, who was shopping at a supermarket in Jamaica, Queens, on Thursday.
“Nobody should monopolize the market. You are squeezing the little man out,” he said.
Others were baffled by why it’s apparently easier to score weed in stores than wine with their cheese.
“Some people just want a nice little something to unwind with at dinner,” said Derrick Wallace, a 52-year-old construction worker from Rosedale, Queens.
“I don’t see any harm in these stores selling wine,” he said. “It’s convenient for the average person.”
Proponents of the bill say it’s a common-sense way to combat the state’s strict 1934 alcohol laws with a more consumer-friendly process.
Opponents — including Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and Empire Merchants, which conduct the vast majority of wholesale wine sales statewide — contend the change would “devastate” local small businesses, according to a May press release from the group.
They also argue grocery store wine sales would “make it easier for teenagers to access alcohol, contributing to underage drinking and drunk driving.”
“It’s just a money grab that will cannibalize small businesses to benefit big businesses,” said Jeff Saunders, president of the Retailers Alliance of New York, which opposes the bill.
Ultimately, lawmakers hope they’ll be able to sway liquor store owners with a wider package of alcohol control laws that modernize the state’s nearly century-old, post-prohibition system and offer them perks.
The broader bill would allow liquor store owners to own two shops, sell more mixers and open earlier on Sundays. Krueger first introduced the bill 13 years ago, in part to expand business for New York state’s wine industry, while noting dozens of other states allow supermarket wine sales.
“Why wouldn’t we want to help our wine industry to grow and prosper?” she said, noting grocery stores that already sell beer are prepared to card possible underage drinkers.
“Somehow with our wholesale system, which is basically a monopoly model, we ended up with more expensive products for consumers. I don’t get it,” she said. “I do believe that the wholesalers feel extremely threatened by this.”
State records show Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits inked a $10,000 per month contract in December with the Albany-based lobbying firm Bolton-St. Johns.
In January, Empire Merchants North signed a $5,000 per month deal with the Albany-based lobbying firm Featherstonhaugh Wiley and Clyne in January, the records show.
The most recent push for new wine rules comes after a commission recommended a series of changes, and Gov. Kathy Hochul has shown support for expanding the hours liquor can be sold.
A recent Siena poll commissioned by the supermarket chain Wegmans also found voters overwhelmingly support grocery-store wine sales, including 70% in New York City, 77% in the suburbs and 79% upstate.
On Thursday, Hunter vowed to continue trying to pass the bill until the final scheduled day of legislative session June 8.
“Until we gavel out, I’ll be actively looking to get it passed in our house,” she said. “Most of the opposition I’ve personally seen, and I look at all the correspondence, is from individual liquor stores concerned about the loss of their business.”
“No one wants any business to shutter their doors. We want to make sure businesses are thriving and surviving,” she said.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday “it’s not likely that that’s gonna happen” when asked if the bill would pass his chamber this year.
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) also said there were no plans in her chamber for a broad package on overhauling state alcohol laws.
