It’s time for a short quiz.

Please read the following statement:

“Their tactics smell of greed, debauchery and self-absorbed irresponsibility.“

This statement was used to describe:

A. The liquor industry, including the Tennessee Wine & Spirits Wholesalers and the Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association

B. The primary sponsor of Red White and Food, The Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association

If you guessed A*, you are incorrect.

This is a quote is from Chuck Groover,  senior pastor of Victory Baptist Church in Mt. Juliet. Mr. Groover is frequent contributor to the debate about whether food stores should be allowed to sell wine.

We’re not going to debate Mr. Groover in this forum. He is free to choose what he thinks about the issue. We are big believers in individual choice.

We will take issue with Mr. Groover’s depiction of our motives. Service drives everything that we do. Our customers ask for new products all the time. And we do our absolute best to accommodate them. The reward for good service is that customers come to our store and spend more money with us. If we fail at service, they and their dollars go somewhere else.

The number one question — by far — that new customers ask is, “Where’s the wine?” We want to serve those customer, but we’re not allowed to. That’s frustrating to us and the customer.

Let’s also talk safety. It’s against the law to sell alcohol in a food store unless the customer presents proof of age. Even if you’re 90 and want to buy beer, you better bring ID. The name of the law is the Responsible Vendor Act. The food store industry proactively  sought the change. Some people consider it onerous. We consider it a uniform policy that is an enormous deterrent to underage Tennesseans who try to buy alcohol.

The debate is welcome. The accusations are not.

* And, for the record, we don’t think our opponents are greedy, debauch, or irresponsible either. We just like having a little fun.

Here’s a link to Mr. Groover’s entire column (UPDATE: link is fixed).

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Filed under: Members, Why not wine?