Round 3 for WIGS (Wine In Grocery Stores)

Albany/Canandaigua, N.Y. --- In Albany circles the issue has become known as “WIGS” and some of its supporters have been called “WIGS” which stands for Wine In Grocery Stores.  This is now the third budget season in a row where the debate over WIGS has been kicked around in Albany. 

The last two years have become heated battles with the legislation attached to former-Governor David Paterson’s proposed budget.  This year the one significant change to the debate is that the Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears content to allow this issue to be debated on the merits, separate from his budget plan.

But the WIGS debate remains a well-funded effort from those in support of the concept.  In fact, a renewed effort and website has dubbed those supporters “GRAPES” which stands for Generating Revenue And Promoting Employment Statewide.

Liquor store owners, largely unified in opposition of WIGS, have long since adopted “The Last Store on Main Street” identity and are prepared for “Round 3” in this fight against…GRAPES?

“I've been fighting grapes my whole career trying to get the best quality grapes and making the best wines when I was in wine-making at one time," Don Bombace, owner of Bombace Liquors in Farmington said with a chuckle.  Bombace is a regional representative for the lobby fighting to keep wine out of grocery stores.

"They (supporters of WIGS) are trying to come up with new concepts and new ideas,” Bombace said of the renewed WIGS effort.  “Their old concepts did not work it didn't make sense then, it's not going to make sense now."

Studies and statistics on both sides of the debate are presented as ways of supporting one argument or another.  Liquor store owners say WIGS could cost the state 5,000 jobs because liquor stores would close and downsize.  A recent study from the GRAPES group argues that WIGS would create 6,000 jobs and provide the state with hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue.

Be it in Albany on the legislative floor or in Canandaigua around a lunch table, the debate always seems to come back to one thing: Jobs.

"I'm totally against it, my husband drives for Empire Merchants which is an alcohol distributing company and he needs a job right now," Kelly Eldredge said of her opposition to the WIGS proposal.  "We don't need to lose any more jobs and I feel that that would definitely lose jobs."

"It doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me. I think if people want to purchase wine they're going to go to where they can get, whether it's convenience or a small-town liquor store," Sue Herendeen whose husband is in the wine-making business said.  "I'd hate to put her husband out of work but the more wine we need to make the sales, the more wine my husband makes"