Alcohol in groceries
Pub Date: 5/1/2006
While adult beverages retailers in Maryland fight a grocery industry-sponsored initiative to allow wine to be sold in grocery stores, their counterparts in Minnesota just saw the first shot fired across the liquor control bow in that state.
A legislative audit report found that Minnesotans pay more for beer and wine than do residents of neighboring Wisconsin, but less for spirits. Alcohol beverage sales are currently restricted to licensed off-premise stores that do not sell food, some of which are municipally-owned and -licensed outlets.
An executive of the Minnesota Grocers Association, Nancy Christensen, jumped on the report results, using them as an impetus to push for legislative changes that would make wine available in conventional groceries, though she denied grocers had any interest in future campaigns to gain the privilege of adding beer or spirits to their inventories.
According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Christenson said, "The auditor's report shows Minnesota's system of liquor laws is broken."
But Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles noted Minnesotans may prefer to keep their current system limiting adult beverage availability to select locations instead of spreading it to every store that sells food, characterizing such a move as a "cultural shock."
The audit said beer prices averaged 9 percent more in Minnesota than Wisconsin, and wine prices were 7 percent more, but Minnesotans paid 8 percent less for spirits than their neighbors.
At press time, officials with the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association said they were still analyzing the report, which they implied only illustrated part of the picture, and would reserve comment for later.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, May, 2006, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.