Governor's budget would allow grocery stores to sell wine(2)
Mr. Cullen admitted grocery stores will need to catch up to the knowledge experienced wine sellers have. “There’s going to be a learning curve for supermarkets. There’s no doubt about it,” he said.
At North Sea Liquor, owner Peter Rogoski said that if grocery stores start selling wine, they will undercut liquor stores. “They will be able to buy in such large quantities, that they will lower the price,” he said.
The merchant said that will leave the higher-end and boutique wines to the liquor stores, but he is already selling less high-end products because of the recession.
And if the governor thinks the state is going to collect more sales tax on wines, he’ll find that he will actually collect less because a bottle of wine will cost less, Mr. Rogoski said.
State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. pointed out on Monday that this is not the first time the idea has been proposed, and he said he has never supported it. “I was a college intern in the State Assembly in 1975, and this bill was floating around then,” he said.
“He’s basically resurrected every bad idea,” Mr. Thiele said of the governor. “A bad idea doesn’t become good simply because the state has fiscal problems.” But difficult times may make more legislators see the idea as viable, he added.
The assemblyman said opening wine sales to grocery stores would indeed put liquor stores out of business. And “nobody is knocking my door down as consumers saying they need to be able to buy wine in grocery stores,” he added,
State Senator Kenneth LaValle said this week he also opposes the proposal, principally because he is concerned it will increase the number of DWI accidents among young people. “I just believe that by broadening access to alcohol ... it will only increase deaths on our highways,” Mr. LaValle said. He said it was wrong to use something that could result in more deaths as a way to increase revenues. “We have to stand for something,” he said.
Mr. LaValle said his office has been contacted by beer distributors, who will want “a piece of the action” too if wine sales are going to be allowed at grocery stores.
Terence McCulley, the owner of Peconic Beverage in Southampton, said he would be interested in carrying wine if the grocery stores were doing the same. But he is already renting out space at his County Road 39 beverage outlet to a liquor store, Zabi’s Spirits, and does not want to compete with his tenant, he said.
Though sympathetic to small business owners with liquor stores, Mr. McCulley noted that Peconic Beverage survived when gas stations started to carry beer about 15 years ago.
“We used to be, like, a destination ...” he said. “Now you can get beer in 20 different places on County Road 39.”
