Alcohol sales in supermarkets-bad for producers?

[Omniscient]

@Furious_Marmot

I suspect you are right in that people are bending the definition of small. I don’t have enough information on the NY campaign, which would apply only to wine. I saw some posters which claimed that small wineries were against it, but nothing solid. In CO, again, the posters claim ‘small local’ brewers oppose supermarket sales. Off the top of my head, Left Hand brewing is definitely on the record as being against, but I don’t know if they count as small.

Here’s an article that discusses the new law in Colorado. It essentially confirms my speculation here.

What’s really at stake here?

How about thousands of Colorado jobs. Passing this bill could put a significant percentage of Mom and Pop liquor stores out of business along with their employees. Profits from beer sales would head out of state into corporate pockets instead of in the hands of local residents. Craft beer breweries in this state, rough 110 of them, could see significant losses in sales of their beer as cheaper out of state beers would likely get a stronghold on supermarket shelves. Many craft breweries could go out of business, further hurting the Colorado economy. Colorado beer tourism, which draws thousands of travelers each year, would also suffer should breweries go out of business.

As you can see, they are concerned that bigger out of state breweries would have an advantage in selling to the conglomerates. They are not referring to BudMillerCoors since those companies already sell in grocery stores, they are worried about Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada coming in and out selling the small local brewers that are able to secure shelf space in the small mom and pop liquor stores but would likely not have the resources to compete in the big chains for shelf space.

[Omniscient]

Forgot this and my edit time expired:

Left Hand Brewing would be in a somewhat unique position. As a national brand, they’d be able to afford to compete in the big chains and they’d get their fair share of shelf space. So they aren’t worried about not being able to compete, they are worried about losing their fat profit margins. If they have to start selling in 7-eleven and the chain grocery stores they are going to have to compete on price with Sam Adams which means their beer prices would drop. They are choosing to be the big fish in a little pond as opposed to a medium fish in a giant pond. If the law changes, Left Hand will probably sell more beer in the state overall, but their profit margin on each bottle will drop and their marketing and on premise sales budgets will have to go up.

[Dr.Righteous]

The way the law is right now in New York, liquor stores owners are not allowed to own more than one store. What this means is that they cannot create a chain of stores, and therefore cannot buy in quantity like a supermarket chain could. You can see how this would present a challenge for the liquor stores to match them on price.

Maybe if they change the law to allow wine sales in supermarkets and also allow liquor stores to open more than one store, and to sell other items like gourmet cheese and beer, it might level the playing field.

[Voyager]

@Rick

I would like to note that the hard liquor selection at the average California supermarket kicks Washington’s state run liquor store’s ass all over the street.
Then there is the wonderfulness that is Bevmo. Puts the supermarkets and average liquor store to shame.

Within walking distance from me are two supermarkets with excellent wine collections and a BevMo. We mostly go there when they are having their five cent sale. I’m not enough of a wine maven to know if the collections are really great, but there is enough variety to last me a long time. If that is a problem, I can always drive up to the wineries in Napa too.

Before I lived here I lived in a dry town in NJ with a liquor store right over the border, which didn’t have nearly the selection we get in the grocery store here.