Beer and wine sales in grocery stores appear stalled for this year
As excerpted from Maryland Matters:
Consumers looking to buy beer and wine in grocery and other retail stores may have to wait a little longer.
What is practically a perennial effort to let other retailers sell some alcoholic beverages appears destined to stall again, with two key Senate Democrats saying a Senate bill is not poised to move forward, and a House version hitting a brick wall of concerns about small business owners Wednesday.
“I don’t foresee us this year taking on this issue in a significant way,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) told reporters Tuesday. “I do think probably in the next term, we’re going to have to figure out some sort of compromise here.”
He said he does not see that compromise emerging in the remaining six weeks of this session, but that “in the next term, there’s probably a broader conversation about how to do this as fairly as possible, because we do know that it is that convenience is what Marylanders want.”
Cailey Locklair, president of the Maryland Retailers Alliance, called Ferguson’s comments “unfortunate.”
“We have independent studies stating that $75 million in new revenue would come to Maryland. This is not a new tax. This is not a new cut. This is a decision that benefits communities. It provides jobs. Neighborhood Stabilization retains existing stores and attracts new ones.”
The retailers association is a member of the Consumer Freedom Coalition, which is backing the push to expand beer and wine sales and, as part of that effort, targeted Ferguson in a mail campaign. The coalition also commissioned a University of Baltimore study looking at the potential effects of expanded sales in Maryland.
Supporters, undaunted, gathered in Annapolis Wednesday to push for passage of House Bill 1303, which was being heard by the House Economic Matters Committee, and Senate Bill 75, which was heard last month. The bills are similar, but not identical.
Both bills would allow grocery stores and big box wholesale chains to sell beer and wine. The House bill also includes convenience stores and pharmacies, if they meet minimum square footage requirements.
