THE BATTLE OVER BOOZE IN GROCERY STORES
An 11th-hour compromise to ease in the sales of alcohol at Colorado grocery stores has left all parties — the local liquor stores supporting it and the grocery stores pushing an opposing ballot measure — in a holding pattern. ¶ Senate Bill 197, which passed the Colorado legislature on May 11, is sitting on Gov. John Hickenlooper’s desk. He has until June 10 to sign, veto or passively allow it to become law.
The legislation would grant grocery chains five licenses in the state in 2017, increasing to allow the sale of full-strength beer, wine and spirits at an unlimited number of locations by 2037.
Current law allows grocers to sell 3.2 beer in all stores and to hold a single full-service retail liquor license in the state.
The compromise comes after eight years of failed legislative efforts to update Colorado’s laws and a push by national grocers to put a ballot measure to voters in November that would open up beer and wine sales at grocery stores immediately.
“Part of why so many people are supporting this bill is that it makes these changes in a more gradual transition rather than voters deciding to change the rules of the road overnight,” said Sen. Pat Steadman, the bill’s main sponsor.
The measure, which passed with broad bipartisan support, even drew a pledge by Walmart to jump ship from the grocery store coalition Your Choice Colorado, if it is signed into law.
But Your Choice Colorado sponsors King Soopers and Safeway have issues with several of the bill’s provisions, chiefly a proximity clause that
sponsors say is intended to protect existing stores.
Under the legislation, no new licenses could be issued to grocers within 1,500 feet of an existing liquor store. In towns with a population of less than 10,000, that radius increases to 3,000 feet.
Grocers could purchase an existing license, but they would have to buy all of the retail liquor licenses within the radius.
If there are no existing licenses within 1,500 feet, a retailer still would have to buy two licenses in the jurisdiction before being allowed to sell alcohol.
“What it proposes as a compromise is not a compromise at all,” said Your Choice Colorado campaign manager Georgie Aguirre-Sacasa. “It strong-arms us because that 1,500-foot radius is impossible. (Buying out surrounding stores) is prohibitively expensive.”
In the event both the ballot measure and legislation become law, the proximity restriction is the only element of SB 197 that will affect the new licenses.
Aguirre-Sacasa said Your Choice Colorado is still collecting signatures and as of Tuesday had more than 85,000 of the 93,000 required to make it onto the ballot.
But the decision to pursue the ballot measure — and any legal challenges to the recent legislation — will hinge on Hickenlooper’s next move.
Liquor stores would have liked to maintain the current, 80-year-old system. But they could see the changes coming down the pike and instead opted for compromise, said Bruce Dierking, founder of Hazel’s Beverage World in Boulder.
“It’s a soft landing,” said Dierking, who along with a consortium of liquor store owners, distributors, distillers and wine makers worked with lawmakers.
The measure includes a number of other conditions to “level the playing field,” he said, including a prohibition against buying in bulk and allowing liquor stores to generate 20 percent of their sales from food items.
That could help stores carve out a niche by 2037, when the market opens to everyone, by letting retailers sell cheese and crackers alongside wine.
“Under their ballot measure, they can sell whatever they want; we can only sell liquor,” Dierking said. “The same way they are going for convenience, so are we.”
Dierking takes issue with the grocery stores’ assertion that the “free market” should be allowed to operate.
“Alcohol has never been a free market,” he said.
What it proposes as a compromise is not a compromise at all. It strong-arms us because that 1,500foot radius is impossible. (Buying out surrounding stores) is prohibitively expensive.” Georgie Aguirre-Sacasa, Your Choice Colorado campaign manager