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By: Serach Nissim
A pair of state lawmakers are introducing a bill that would prop up New York wine and liquor stores to help their businesses.
As reported by the NY Post, NYS Sen. Michelle Hinchey quietly introduced a controversial bill which would allow wine and liquor stores and their distributors to sell “non-alcoholic versions of alcoholic beverages”. This is a small but quickly growing niche that liquor store owners say could help sales, which have slowed since the end of the pandemic. The bill, however, is sure to be unpopular with grocers and their supporters. NYS is among only 17 states that don’t allow wine and liquor stores to sell non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits. It is also, however, one of only 10 states which does not allow grocery stores to sell wine or liquor. Supermarkets and grocers, which are only allowed to sell beer in NY, have been lobbying heavily against this law, which has been untouched since the Prohibition era.
Last year, grocers pushed a bill to grant them the right to sell alcohol, but it failed to pass due to strong opposition from liquor stores, per the Post.
Over the past 12 months, sales of alcoholic beverages in the United States inched up just 0.8% to $105 billion. During that same timeframe, sales of non-alcoholic booze jumped an impressive 34% to $620.4 million, according to NielsenIQ. So, although still modest in market size, the non-alcoholic booze is becoming a significant niche worth fighting for. Currently, grocers and convenience stores are the ones legally allowed to sell non-alcoholic wines, spirits and mocktails, along with specialty stores which sell only non-alcoholic beverages.
Wine and liquor store owners say their sales are down by more than 10 percent over the past year, per members of the Albany-based Metropolitan Package Store Association, which represents 3,500 liquor stores. “2023 was a difficult year for us,” Daniel Posner, owner of Grapes the Wine Company of White Plains, told The Post. “Most retailers’ sales were off anywhere from 15% to 35%.”
“Consumers are not purchasing as much alcohol for at-home consumption,” noted Kaleigh Theriault, NielsonIQ’s director of beverage alcohol thought leadership. Michael Correra, a Brooklyn liquor store owner who is executive director of the Metropolitan Package Store Association, suggested “I think the legalization of marijuana is taking business away.” Correra added, “And Ozempic is an issue for us because people are not drinking when they are taking those drugs.”
“It’s incredibly important to us to support our liquor stores,” Hinchey told The Post. “They are family owned, local small businesses that are on our main streets and this could be a new revenue stream for them.” State Assemblyman Al Stirpe has put forth a companion bill in the lower house. So far, the bills haven’t garnered too much opposition. “There hasn’t been a big push yet,” Hinchey said.
“It’s a new bill.”
Many, however, expect severe backlash from grocery stores. Nelson Eusebio, who heads government relations for the National Supermarket Association, which represents 600 independent stores in NYC, said he hadn’t heard about the bill before he was contacted for comment by the Post. “It’s a fair trade provided that we get to sell the wine,” Eusebio said. “We would block their bill if they don’t allow us to get wine. They keep making a scene about us selling wine, so why would we give them even potato chips?”
