Wine at Wegmans? Not in New York, if Liquor Stores Can Help It.

Jan 22, 2024

Advertisement

Supported by

Despite a state commission's recommendations, New York lawmakers seem unlikely to make substantive changes to a 1934 law that traces to Prohibition.

By Luis Ferré-Sadurní

Reporting from Albany, N.Y.

In New York, all sorts of things that were once considered illegal are now fair game, like buying marijuana and smoking it in public, or betting on sports right from your cellphone.

But what if you wanted to buy wine from a grocery store? Or a bottle of vodka on Sunday morning for an early Bloody Mary? Sorry, no. That's against the law.

For years, state lawmakers have tried to tackle New York's antiquated liquor laws, with halting success. Until last year, for example, liquor stores were barred from opening on Christmas Day. And it wasn't until 2016 that lawmakers passed the so-called boozy-brunch bill, which allowed restaurants to serve alcohol before noon on Sunday.

But attempts to make the alcoholic beverage industry more competitive and friendlier to consumers have typically faced opposition from recalcitrant parties that stand to lose money, and resistance from lawmakers concerned about easing the sale of alcohol. The state has created three commissions in recent years, the first two in 2009 and 2016, to make recommendations to update the state's laws. Most were never adopted.

The renewed focus on New York's alcohol statutes stems from a 192-page report issued in May by the third commission, which Gov. Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature established last year to propose changes to the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control, or A.B.C., law. The law, enacted in 1934, has long been criticized as outdated and riddled with outlandish vestiges of Prohibition.

At first glance, some of the changes that state lawmakers are now considering for modernizing the laws might seem like straightforward, common-sense reforms that would benefit consumers.

One would allow New Yorkers to buy wine at grocery stores. Another would permit liquor stores to open before noon on Sunday. A third would let bars buy bottles of liquor directly from a liquor store if they run out on a busy night, instead of waiting until the next shipment from a supplier.

But efforts to alter the liquor laws seem unlikely to succeed this year, unable to overcome powerful, but familiar headwinds: the obdurate opposition of an alcohol industry that has used its clout in the State Capitol to preserve the status quo and protect its bottom line for decades.

As the 2023 legislative session comes to a close, the proposed changes to the liquor laws have prompted a last-minute dash of frenzied lobbying from liquor stores, distributors and distillers. Bars and restaurants have also jumped into the fray, trying to loosen rules to make it easier to obtain liquor licenses.

And grocery stores and supermarkets, led by chains like Wegmans, have joined together to achieve an elusive goal: to permit the sale of wine at their stores, reigniting a perennial skirmish against mom-and-pop liquor stores that see the legislation as a threat to their very existence.

"Somehow this becomes this huge controversy because New York is one of the few states that you can't go into a supermarket and buy wine, even though you can buy beer," said State Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat who introduced the bill to allow the sale of wine in grocery stores.

"The underlying issue is that you’ve got a monopoly control of wholesale distribution of liquor in this state, and the three wholesalers who control all liquor distribution think that this disadvantages them," she said.

Wegmans, a supermarket chain based in Rochester, has spent over $30,000 in May alone pushing the measure, which liquor stores have fended off every time it has emerged in Albany over the past four decades.

The two main alcohol distributors in the state, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits and Empire Merchants, have collectively spent at least $120,000 since the year began on lobbying state officials, disclosure records show. The families that own Southern Glazer's, which is the largest liquor distributor in the United States and based in Florida, also contributed at least $25,000 to Ms. Hochul's campaign last year.

"When you change one area to benefit a business in the industry, it oftentimes has a negative and unacceptable adverse impact on another sector in the industry," said Assemblyman Harry Bronson, a Rochester Democrat who recently introduced legislation to change the A.B.C. law. "We have to be very cautious here. The reason we have these laws is because we want to highly regulate the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages."

The 16-member commission appointed last year was, like its predecessors, formed with the goal of finding common ground to break years of logjam in Albany. It was composed largely of representatives of the alcohol industry, including a winery owner, a senior manager at Anheuser-Busch and the head of a liquor store trade group, and the restaurant industry.

The commission failed to reach consensus on some of the most contentious issues, such as allowing grocery stores to sell wine. But, through a majority vote, the panel issued a report containing 18 relatively modest recommendations, from clerical changes for streamlining liquor-license applications to eliminating a restriction that prohibits restaurants and bars from serving liquor within 200 feet of a school or house of worship.

It is now up to lawmakers to decide whether to turn the proposed changes into legislation.

The most momentum for change appears to be in the State Senate, where James Skoufis, a Hudson Valley Democrat and the loudest proponent of reforming the A.B.C. law, introduced a bill that incorporated the commission's recommendations. It has advanced out of committee.

"The most important stakeholder here is the consumer," Mr. Skoufis said in an interview. "There's no reason, for example, that a consumer shouldn't be able to go into a liquor store and get some mixers and bitters while they’re there, as opposed to having to make a separate stop at the grocery store down the street." (His bill would loosen limits on the items liquor stores can sell besides alcohol.)

The path is less certain in the State Assembly, where companion legislation introduced by Mr. Bronson is not expected to get a floor vote this year.

Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, has not shared her view of the proposed changes publicly. Members of her staff met in May with industry stakeholders, including commission members. State officials seemed interested in reforming the liquor law but appeared more inclined to tackle the issue next year, according to a participant who requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Hazel Crampton-Hays, a spokeswoman for Ms. Hochul, said the governor was committed to "flexibility and reforms" in the industry, noting her success last year in legalizing the sale of to-go drinks.

"We are reviewing these recommendations and continuing to engage with the Legislature and stakeholders as we work to modernize the industry," Ms. Crampton-Hays said.

Because the commission's recommendations are not binding, they have led to an unusual dynamic that threatens to undermine any action: Some of the same industry players who prepared the report are lobbying against changes it proposed.

"The wild card is those forces that were on the commission, who didn't like the results of the commission and are now actively lobbying against things that they didn't like," said Paul Zuber, the executive vice president of the Business Council, a lobbying group for businesses in the state. Mr. Zuber was part of the commission.

The commission's recommendations included allowing business owners to own more than one wine or liquor store. Currently, New York is one of only a few states that prohibits liquor store owners from owning more than one establishment, a restriction that does not apply to other retail businesses, including restaurants, laundromats and hardware stores.

The Business Council and national liquor chains like Total Wine & More, which now has only one store on Long Island, are pushing to expand the number of stores an owner can have, arguing that it would increase competition and allow entrepreneurs to expand their businesses.

But lobbying groups for the more than 3,000 liquor stores in the state, most of them small businesses, oppose such a move stridently, casting it as a fundamental threat. They argue that even one additional license could open the floodgates to a proliferation of chain stores.

"All of a sudden you would have the corporatization of liquor," said Michael Correra, the owner of a Brooklyn Heights liquor store and the executive director of the Metropolitan Package Store Association, a trade group. "I know my community, I live in my community, I’m not some guy from Delaware or Virginia who owns 1,000 stores in the United States and wants to go open up 10 stores in New York."

Luis Ferré-Sadurní is the Albany bureau chief and covers New York State politics. He joined The Times in 2017 and previously wrote about housing for the Metro desk. He is originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico. @luisferre

Advertisement