Alcohol

C. Jarrett Dieterle | 8.4.2024 7:00 AM

Lost amid the drive to expand alcohol delivery in the wake of COVID-19 has been the corresponding push—actually starting even before the pandemic—to allow more types of stores to sell alcohol. While more and more states have allowed grocery stores to sell booze in recent years, these efforts have been fiercely resisted by independent liquor store owners who claim that their small businesses will be forced to shutter if large chain retailers are suddenly able to sell alcohol.

Up until now, these debates have largely been devoid of actual data, but new empirical research has been published showing that grocery store alcohol sales don't really impact mom-and-pop liquor stores after all. At long last, this is one protectionist argument that can finally kick the bucket—if only policy makers will let it die.

Currently, 11 states still forbid wine from being sold in grocery stores while four still prohibit beer. In recent years, states as politically diverse as Mississippi, Connecticut, and Maryland have considered bills to expand wine and/or beer to their grocery store outlets, only to be met with a tidal wave of opposition. Any place where such reform legislation appears, it is immediately opposed by liquor stores in the state—sometimes called "package stores"—which already sell wine and beer and want to prevent any grocery store from becoming their new competitors in the market.

The impact of this protectionism extends far........

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