“We have actually had some conversations with both sides,” stated Sen. James Maroney, co-chair of the General Law Committee, which will see this bill when it’s ultimately drafted.
HARTFORD, Conn.– Though the Capitol complex is closed until Monday, the 2023 legal session did gavel in on Wednesday. There’s already a renewed push in a decades-old argument in Connecticut: whether to allow the sale of wine in grocery stores.
If you ask the grocery stores, they say it’s about convenience for consumers and broadening range, however package stores argue enabling wine in grocery stores would put them out of company.
“We understand that customers desire this,” stated Wayne Pesce, president of the Connecticut Food Association.
“If this happens, it’s going to be truly bad for Connecticut,” Maulik Vyas, founder of the Indian American Package Store Association of Connecticut stated.
Right now, bottle can’t be purchased the grocery store. Connecticut is among just 8 states like this, however for years it’s been trying to sign up with the ranks of the other 42.
“Take the enthusiasm out of this and let’s do what’s right for people who are going shopping here in the state,” said Pesce. “It’s a modernization of the law.”
In anticipation of this legal fight, Pesce stated the Connecticut Food Association commissioned numerous studies and aggregated information. Its survey shows over 80% of the state’s consumers want white wine in the grocery store.
“We do not think that if you enter into a supermarket that you’re going to stop going to your local bundle shop,” Pesce described.
Package store owners, like Vyas, highly disagree.
“It’s not producing any jobs,” he stated. “People are losing jobs, great deals of people are going to be annoyed.”
Vyas stated at his shop, wine sales are about 35% of his total earnings and if supermarkets are allowed to get in the vino game, it could affect package stores in a huge method.
“I do not want my white wine next to my soup, that I get the soup and I get the red wine without any knowledge,” he continued. “We require best service and that is how package stores can provide that to the clients.”
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Vyas said it’s not simply sales or choice– he’s also worried about property from the loss of shops and much easier minor access to alcohol.
“We need to think extremely wisely and wisely,” he said. “This is a truly, really major issue. People are not comprehending the ground reality.”
“We’ve had some conversations with both sides,” stated Sen. James Maroney, co-chair of the General Law Committee, which will see this expense when it’s ultimately drafted.
Maroney anticipates the intro of a possible law in February.
“I do expect it to generate a lot of feedback to the hearing and that’s why we like to hear the costs so that you can hear all sides and try to tweak the language and see if the idea has assistance,” he stated.
Emma Wulfhorst is a political press reporter for FOX61 News. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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