Wine Worries

February 12, 2009

One small section of Governor Paterson's budget has local store owners angry. A request to allow supermarkets and other stores selling beer to start selling wine is tucked away in the budget proposal. But liquor store owners have noticed and are concerned about losing business and even jobs.

In an effort to lobby against the proposition, a large group of liquor sellers from around the state formed the Last Store on Main Street coalition. Pascale's Liquor Square in Syracuse is a coalition member working to stop the move.

"If wine does go into grocery stores, because they are a chain, they have cooperative buying power," Pascale's co-manager Sean Gosch said. "They could buy large sums of wine and sell it at a cheaper price than we would be able to do."

While customers may be excited about the prospect of less expensive wine, The Last Store on Main Street contends it would hurt small business. The coalition says wine accounts for over 65 percent of liquor store sales. Gosch says employees will suffer if other stores start taking away his wine sales.

"People are going to lose their jobs if this happens, and we're trying to protect that," Gosch said.

Liquor stores are worried, but some area wineries want this part of the budget proposal passed. Mark Lebo, owner of Bear Pond Winery outside Oneonta, says that having wine available in more places will boost his business. Whether it will be at the expense of liquor stores remains to be seen. The budget is due by April 1.