VOTE NO on Proposition 125

Wine in Grocery Stores: NO. NO on 125.

This ballot measure is intentionally misleading and purely a money grab from the big box stores like WalMart. WalMart and others like Target, King Soopers, and Safeway ARE currently allowed to sell wine and spirits in 8 stores today, and will eventually be allowed to sell wine and spirits in all of their stores.

When the current law was enacted, it purposefully introduced a slow rollout of these licenses and made all new licenses subject to the radius restrictions discussed above in order to help maintain competitive balance in the market. Ballot Measure 125 would circumvent both of these thoughtful safeguards and allow stores like Walmart to disrupt the market overnight.

Even though these stores will eventually receive unlimited licenses, they don’t want to wait for that day to come. They want wine in all their stores now, and they don’t want to spend money acquiring stores to abide by existing radius restrictions. They don’t like the current system, don’t want to play by its rules, and have decided to spend their money getting this issue on the ballot to try to change the rules to benefit them.

Ballot Measure 125 would not introduce new liquor licenses for these stores, instead it would convert existing FMB (beer) licenses that don’t have radius restrictions into licenses that also allow for the sale of wine. This means that big stores would, essentially overnight, be allowed to start selling wine without having to buy-out nearby stores and without having to wait for the phase in provisions, and without having to conduct a neighborhood needs and desires study that every new liquor license has to conduct before being granted a license. There is no doubt that passing this measure would be devastating for small local stores, and we expect many would quickly go out of business.

In addition to being a death sentence for small liquor stores, this measure would also lead to a sub-par experience for consumers like you in a few ways:

• 
  Harder to find and purchase spirits. As hundreds of independent liquor stores go out of business, there will be far fewer locations at which you can purchase spirits. This will also be devastating for the spirits industry, particularly our Colorado craft distillers such as Laws, Stranahan’s, Leopold Brothers, 10th Mountain, and Woody Creek to name a few. The vast majority of these distillers’ products are sold in independent stores, and the independent stores that they are in are mostly Colorado stores. The closure of these stores will hurt these distillers, and will make it harder for Coloradans to find and purchase the spirits they know and love.
• 
  Local beer takes a hit. In big box and grocery, there is always a fight for shelf space. Wine is more profitable than beer, and it’s likely that grocery and box stores will replace some beer to make room for wine. Which beer will they replace? Not likely Bud, Miller, or Coors (national bestsellers) but rather the great local brands we’ve grown to know and love like Denver Beer Co, Avery, Vail Brewing Company, and Weldworks. Voting yes to wine is effectively a no vote for your local craft brewers and distillers.
• 
  Sub-par customer service. As we all know, finding an employee to talk to in a big box store like a WalMart is near impossible, and the chances that said employee will have wine expertise are even lower. Customer service is a critical part to our thriving independent retail liquor store environment, and not only will the grocers not have adequate customer service, but the decreased sales in local liquor stores will also likely necessitate laying off of employees. Per Colorado law, a human needs to be present for each sale of alcohol, so cashiers will not be laid off. Instead, the employees to be laid off will be the ones who work the floor, the ones with industry and customer service expertise. Their knowledge and the experience they facilitate at independent stores will not be replaced at grocery or big box stores.

The opposition will try to convince you that this measure is good for consumers like you, mainly because it will be more convenient to buy wine while grocery shopping. But I encourage you to think carefully about this choice.
In the vast majority of cases, there is a liquor store within the same shopping center as the big box store (I urge you to look next time you buy groceries or go to Target, WalMart, etc.) Is a saved minute or two worth the jobs, livelihood, and potentially homes or assets of Colorado small business owners? Wouldn’t you rather pop into another store to access more selection - particularly of local product- and helpful employees? And remember! These big stores will eventually get to sell wine – let’s just make sure that the change happens in a fair and thoughtful way.

To recap: a NO on 125 is a vote to protect your favorite independent retailers, craft brewers, distillers, and even prices and selection in your local market. Do not be fooled by the big box stores’ money grab: a phased rollout of licenses, as drafted in current law, is the best solution for Colorado as it will allow everyone (including the grocers and big box stores) to compete on an even playing field.

Vote NO on 125.