Big Box Booze

Walmart, liquor stores at odds over state law

Texas, like many Southern states, has some interesting laws regarding the sale of alcohol. And one is in contention right now. The Lone Star State is the only one in the nation that does not allow a publicly traded company to have a retail liquor license.

That means if your business is listed on the stock exchange and members of the public can buy shares, it can’t get a license to operate a liquor store in Texas.

The rule has kept the state’s package liquor business mostly in the hands of individuals and small, family-owned chains. Bigger companies like the San Antonio-based HEB chain have some liquor outlets, but they must be walled off from the main store with a separate entrance.

Well, Walmart challenged the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission on the law. And last week a federal judge ruled it unconstitutional.

That’s not the end of the matter, of course. An association representing those who currently have licenses and benefit from the law plan to appeal.

Bowie County doesn’t allow package liquor sales, so this won’t affect our area immediately. But in the future, who knows? It wasn’t that long ago you had to go across the state line to pick up a six-pack of beer or a bottle of wine.

We are torn on this. We like the idea of liquor sales in the hands of smaller, Texas-based businesses. And we like that there is at least one area big corporations can’t dominate. But truthfully, the judge was probabaly right. We can’t think of any justifiable reason to exclude public companies from a legal retail business.

In any case, we’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out.