Sell Wine in Grocery Stores

In the past few weeks, it’s been nearly impossible to step into a Massachusetts grocery or liquor store without encountering a flurry of passionate posters advocating or discouraging the expansion of wine vending licenses. The measure that would do so, Question One on this November’s ballot, would allow the licensing commission of every municipality of up to 5,000 residents to issue five additional licenses for food stores to sell wine, and proportionally more for towns over 5,000 residents. One would think that such a proposal would be uncontroversial; 34 other states do not restrict grocery store sales of liquor. But liquor stores have much to lose from the passage of Question One—they currently control over 85 percent of wine sales statewide—and grocery stores have much to gain.

But putting aside the special business interests, the average Massachusetts citizen will be far better served by the passage of the licensing initiative than by its rejection. Ending the virtual monopoly that liquor stores enjoy on wine sales will translate into dramatic savings—as much as $36 million by some estimates—and a much more convenient shopping experience. After all, grocery stores can already sell wine—but only at three of their Massachusetts locations. Why should shoppers not be able to buy wine from a grocer’s Cambridge location but have no trouble finding it on the shelves at its Boston store?

We find dire predictions that Question One will cause the Bay State to be overrun with underage winos and drunk drivers unconvincing. According to the “Vote No On Question One” website, 15 and 16 year old clerks who work at grocery stores cannot be relied upon to vet buyers’ ages. But radical increases in underage drinking in neighboring states which allow widespread sale of wine in food stores have not materialized. And besides, grocery stores already sell cigarettes successfully; it should be a relatively small shift to adapt existing technology and training to wine sales. Massachusetts liquor stores, in any case, do not have a perfect record of restricting alcohol sales to those of legal age themselves.

The answer to such concerns is mandating better training of store clerks and more vigilant enforcement, not arbitrarily limiting wine sales to liquor stores and a select few grocery stores lucky enough to get permits. We’re also skeptical that Question One’s passage would cause towns to become flooded with seedy, alcohol-distributing convenience stores that depress the local community—though many more licenses will be available, local licensing commissions will retain control over which businesses actually get them.

Ultimately, it’s hard to take seriously the liquor lobby’s concerns about the evils of expanding wine sales and warnings that passing Question One will cause a drastic increase in underage drinking, drunk driving, and crime. After all, the logical extension of their argument, a blanket prohibition of alcohol (which would be the most effective way to ensure the decline of alcohol-related mischief), would put liquor stores out of business. Indeed, we see little substance in the arguments of the “Vote No” lobby beyond naked protectionism. When voters go to the polls on Nov. 7, we hope that they vote to open up the Massachusetts wine market and save us all a lot of money.