TOUGH TO SWALLOW
Cheap booze feud gives wine shops the shakes
An epic battle over cheap booze is coming to a head in Westchester County — and it’s slated to land in court next month.
Total Wine & More — a fastgrowing chain of nearly 200 stores across 23 states that’s been branded by critics as a ruthless “Walmart of liquor” — is appealing a decision by the New York State Liquor Authority to reject its application for a 21,000-square-foot store near White Plains.
The case is being closely watched by booze sellers in New York City, who fear that Total Wine’s rock-bottom pricing could threaten their business across the five boroughs if the company prevails, sources said.
A 750-ml bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon costs $23.99 at Total Wine’s store in Westbury, LI — its only store in New York — compared with $35.99 at Zachys, a popular store in Scarsdale. A 1.75-liter jug of Tanqueray gin sells for $34.99 at Total versus $48.99 at Zachys.
In a decision last December that followed opposition letters from 25 state lawmakers and a raucous, three-hour hearing, the state liquor board ruled that Westchester “is adequately served and arguably oversaturated” with liquor shops.
Total Wine’s Bethesda, Md.-based owners Robert and David Trone — the latter of whom got elected to US Congress last year as a Democrat campaigning for criminal-justice reform — had argued that the opposition to their megastore was anti-competitive and politically motivated.
Total Wine is appealing the decision, and a hearing is scheduled in New York state Supreme Court on May 10.
The 28-year-old company, whose revenue is estimated at $3 billion, has achieved dramatic results in similar skirmishes with local officials.
Thanks to battles with Total Wine, Minnesota as of 2017 allows alcohol sales on Sunday, while Connecticut liquor stores can now stay open until 10 p.m. — an hour later than they were allowed until 2015. In South Carolina, liquor store owners can now operate more than three stores because of Total Wine, which got the law changed in 2017.
Nevertheless, the “level and manner in which the opposition was activated” in New York “was unprecedented” for Total Wine, according to a source close to the situation.
After Total Wine opened its first and only New York store in Westbury in 2017, it applied to open another store about 30 miles away, in Stony Brook. The state liquor board denied its license, stating that it was too close to the first store.
At a 2017 hearing over the proposed Stony Brook store, the Metropolitan Package Store Association rallied mom-andpop proprietors from across the state, “many of whom were brought to the hearing on chartered buses,” David Trone griped in a March affidavit.
Protesters outside the state liquor board’s Harlem office were “chanting and playing loud music,” according to a source at the meeting. When Total Wine’s Stony Brook application got rejected, they erupted into a rowdy celebration as they loaded cases of cold beer onto their buses home, witnesses said.
The Metropolitan Package Store Association didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“This is an industry that’s designed legislatively for the small, mom-and-pop business,” liquor license attorney Robert Bookman told The Post.
As they gird for next month’s court hearing, local liquor mongers confirm that they believe they’re in for the fight of their life.
“They put other stores out of business by lowering their prices, and when [the smaller stores] go out of business they jack up their prices,” said Stefan Kalagridis, president of the New York State Liquor Store Association, who also owns Colvin Wine Merchants in Albany. Kalagridis couldn’t name specific examples of Total Wine competitors that have shuttered, however.
Total Wine declined to comment for this story. Its officials have said at public hearings there is no evidence competitors have folded after it opens a store nearby.