The Chattanooga Times Free Press covered the issue of wine sales in Tennessee retail food stores in its Perspective section on Sunday, Jan. 22. Although the full story is unavailable online at this time, here is the story as it appeared in the print version of the paper.

The countering guest columns were written by Jarron Springer, president of the Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association, and Trey White, president of Athens Distributing Co. of Chattanooga.

Springer’s summarizes why wine should be allowed in retail food stores:

• Tennesseans want it – A 2011 MTSU study found that 69 percent of Tennesseans support wine sales in retail food stores.
• It’s logical – Wine pairs well with dinner.
• Consumer choice and convenience – Consumers should have the option of choosing where they purchase wine and not have to make an extra trip.
• Monopoly – Liquor wholesalers and store owners want to protect their monopoly because, without competition, they can charge higher prices.
• Revenue and jobs – Wine sales in retail food stores would create more jobs in Tennessee and increase revenue for state and local governments.
• Teen drinking and DUIs – The FBI found that states with wine in grocery stores had a lower average of youth DUIs and liquor violations per 100,000 residents than states that did not allow wine sales in food stores.
• Referendums – The Red White and Food campaign would support allowing voters to decide this issue for their municipalities.

White attempts to undermine these principles with a few ludicrous points:

• States such as Kentucky and New York have not passed legislation allowing wine sales in grocery stores because they “shelve it out of concern for small business and public safety.” Those concerns would be honorable, but are not the reason officials are against wine sales. Legislators vote against this legislation under the guise of public safety, but are actually protecting the liquor lobby. Just because legislation has not been passed allowing wine sales in food stores in more than 25 years does not make it right. If we operated under that assumption, our country might still believe that women should not have the right to vote or African-American students should not attend schools with children of other races.
• Large grocery store chains want to increase their own profits. Large grocery store chains are not the only food stores in support of this – don’t forget about smaller, locally owned stores. Secondly, what is the point of business if not to make a profit? Don’t tell us the wholesalers and liquor store owners aren’t trying to maintain their monopoly to increase their own profits. And don’t tell us grocery stores are the only ones with a wallet in this battle – how long has the liquor lobby financially supported legislators?
• Increased revenue means more people are drinking. A Cornell University economist found that states in which wine makes up a larger part of total alcohol consumption tend to have lower rates of traffic fatalities. Also, research has shown that wine consumption can provide health benefits. Let’s not demonize a beverage that most of the rest of the world considers an integral part of a meal.
• Wholesalers are committed to an effective alcohol distribution system. Like any other business, wholesalers aim to maximize profits. By protecting the status quo, they keep competition at a minimum. As Springer states in his column, “The last thing wholesalers want to do is deal with multiple-store buyers who might challenge their total control of wine distribution and prices.”
• Tennessee wholesalers are locally owned businesses that support our communities. This is most certainly true, but please do discount grocery stores’ community involvement, too. Even national chains hire local employees who send their children to local schools. The stores contribute to local economies by paying taxes. They support local Little League teams, allow Girl and Boy Scouts to fundraise outside of their stores, and sponsor fundraising and community events.

Whom do you agree with? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Or, if you live in the Chattanooga area, submit a letter to the editor. Simply click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

So, WKRN had a story last night about the MTSU survey poll, which found 69% of Tennesseans support the sale of wine in food stores. BTW, that’s up from 62% two years ago. In case you were wondering.

WKRN’s Roxanna Hall interviewed the general manager at Village Wines in Nashville’s Hillsboro Village. Here’s his rational, reasonable answer about the potential impact of this legislation on liquor stores.

HALL — Those who run wine stores, like here at Village Wines, are confident they’ll still be able to keep up business, even if this bill passes.

VILLAGE WINES GM — There’s still a place for wine stores to help customers find special wines and have more knowledge about what we’re selling and find good deals on great wines…We’re going to lose out on a little bit of sales, but we’ll also be able to focus more on what we really want to be doing.

Can we get an amen?

See Roxanna’s complete story on the WKRN website.

Who’s going to drink all this new wine?

That’s the latest from the liquor industry.

It’s inconceivable to them that consumers who are not buying wine in a liquor store today would buy a bottle at a food store tomorrow if it were more available.

Yes, liquor stores capture 100% of Tennessee’s wine sales today. But they don’t capture 100% of potential wine purchases by Tennesseans. Here are two reasons:

• Half of all wine sold in the U.S. is sold with the weekly grocery shopping. This option is not available to Tennessee consumers.
• Residents who live near the Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama often shop in those states. One of the reasons is they can buy wine in a single trip.

And, here’s a big one. Food stores will have a vested stake in increasing demand for wine. They will have tastings*, recommend food pairings*, advertise wine in their circulars, etc. The amount of marketing power that food stores put behind wine in a single week will likely far exceed the combined efforts of all liquor stores in a year.

And what happens when the food store’s selection is no longer good enough? They shop more often at their favorite liquor store.

Food stores will create demand for wine that liquor stores can’t right now. That’s why Tennessee’s wine market will grow 25% to 55% if our legislation passes.

* Liquor stores do these things as well.

Does availability of wine in more retail outlets increase the consumption of wine? This is the latest battle raging with our opponents.

We say yes it will. They say no it will not.

We have the technology to answer this question.

Here’s what we are going to review:

1. Border states — Do they allow or prohibit wine sales in food stores?
2. Avg. # of retail outlets — This is all outlets that sell wine in border states, including liquor and food stores.
3. Adult population per store  – This number is based on the adult population in a state.
4. Per capita consumption of wine — This is the best measure of actual wine consumption. The National Institutes of Health publishes this data.
5. BONUS: Per capita alcohol arrests — This is data straight from the FBI about the number of people arrested for DUI, liquor law offenses, and public drunkenness. We’re throwing this in as a treat.

Let’s go to the data.

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That’s the response from one liquor store owner about the economic impact study that Red White and Food released several weeks ago.

It’s pretty much the response we expected.

Here’s the point: our opponents have presented no evidence of any kind to support their argument. None. Nada. Zip.

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Where wine drinkers are likely to live in Tennessee is an interesting point from our economic impact study, which you can read in its entirety at www.uncorknewjobs.com.

Wine drinkers as a group are likely to:

• Have a household income of $75,000 of more
• Have at least an undergraduate college degree
• Work predominantly in professional or managerial jobs

This means that wine drinkers in Tennessee are most likely to be found in Shelby, Davidson, Knox, Hamilton, Williamson, Rutherford, Sumner, Montgomery, Wilson, Sullivan, Blount, Washington, Marshall, Anderson, and Sevier counties. It’s essentially the metropolitan and suburban areas your would expect.

The positive impact of allowing food stores to sell wine would be felt most in these 15 counties.

There are 39 other counties (Tennessee has 95 total) that have at least one liquor store. Stores in those counties will feel little impact from the change because the wine-drinking population is low. Wine is probably very little of their ongoing business.

We share this because our opponents have predicted a statewide catastrophe if this legislation passes. This is another piece of evidence that proves their arguments are untrue.

The lead lobbyist for the Tenn. Wine and Spirits Retailers Association had this response to the economic impact study we released last week at www.uncorknewjobs.com:

“Grow what market? Are Tennesseans going to drink 25 to 55 percent more?”

When you rank 41st in the nation in wine consumption, the answer to that second question is yes. Here’s why.

Liquor stores are assuming the capture 100 percent of the wine market. It’s safe to say some percentage of shoppers are choosing not to buy wine.

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For those who have yet to meet him, please allow us to introduce Mr. Golden Goose.

We pretty sure he’s not that Golden Goose. Wouldn’t that be the ironies of ironies?

You can now follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/tnwinewholesale.

Red White and Food should set the record straight that the campaign nothing to do with this Twitter account, other than posting and retweeting hilarious observations such as:

“Just think of us as local #OPEC“

Having a mock enemy is so flattering. Thank you, Mr. Golden Goose.

Say I have $1 in my pocket.

Let’s say you offer to give me the $3 in your pocket for the $1 in my pocket.

But then I say, “No, this $1 is better than the $3 you have. I need to hold on to it.”

You’d call me crazy and walk away.

1,000-3,000 new jobs

This scenario is real in Tennessee. Opening the wine market would create 1,597 to 3,513 new jobs, according to a new economic impact study released today. The same study found that 104 to 597 liquor store jobs would be at risk.

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