Ashland — Grocers make a point of knowing what their customers want to buy and are hoping state lawmakers will help them respond to people who want a glass of wine with their dinner.
Article originally posted by the Ashland Daily Independent directed to: http://dailyindependent.com/local/x546117517/Grocers-seek-wine-option
Grocers seek wine option
Spokesman: State lawmakers are expected to take up issue next year
Ashland — Grocers make a point of knowing what their customers want to buy and are hoping state lawmakers will help them respond to people who want a glass of wine with their dinner.
“The grocery industry decided it is time to push this forward,” said Luke Schmidt, a spokesman for the Food With Wine Coalition. The coalition is a nonprofit agency formed by Kentucky’s grocers to seek a change in state law allowing grocery stores to sell wine, instead of limiting wine to the shelves of liquor stores.
“There are three reasons why this is compelling,” he said, explaining the idea would benefit consumers and promote competition, increase state tax revenues without enacting any new taxes, and lend support to Kentucky’s emerging wine industry as well as farmers who’ve switched from tobacco to grapes as an alternate cash crop.
State legislators weren’t able to discuss the proposal during their most recent short session in Frankfort, Schmidt said, although they are expected to study the idea in January.
In the meantime, the state’s grocers are urging consumers to let their state representatives know what they want. Store displays will guide wine lovers to a Web site where they are asked to take roughly 30 seconds to complete a petition and generate a letter to the appropriate elected officials.
“We’ve only been promoting it for about two weeks and it has already generated several thousand letters,” Schmidt said.
The coalition proposal would not have any effect on “dry” counties, Schmidt stressed, and would leave the sale of wine at grocery stores in the hands of store managers and owners.
“This does not mandate they sell wine. This is not a mandatory thing at all,” he said. “But we believe most will want to supply their customers with what they have been asking for.”
The coalition has provided information about the effort to Ashland area grocery stores, including Kroger, with displays that ask, “Where’s the wine?” and detailed information at checkout counters.
The idea does have some enemies, Schmidt said.
“The only opposition we know of is from liquor stores. They’ll tell you we are going to put them out of business,” Schmidt said, adding the proposal “is not a prelude to distilled spirits in grocery stores.”
Schmidt asks consumers who support the sale of wine at grocery stores to visit foodwithwine.org and click on the “Sign the Petition” link. The coalition is also represented on social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter.
TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.