First reported by delWine in the December 20th issue of delWine, New York's governor, David Paterson had proposed in his budget that the State's supermarkets be allowed to sell wine. The Governor was motivated to suggest the change as he is faced with US 15 billion budget deficit and he felt that this move in combination with doubling of wine taxes would help boost revenue from wine sales. The State also hoped to make additional money on selling the Franchise fees for these supermarkets which already have the beer selling licenses.
New York has so far lagged behind other American states in allowing supermarkets and convenience stores to sell wine. But Paterson thought that the state was ripe to revisit the idea as a way to help the upstate economy.
But the opposition and lobbying against the proposal was too strong. The small mom and pop liquor stores felt they would be wiped out while the big super markets would fatten their profits due to the additional sales and lower prices due to the economies of scale. Even the local wineries opposed the purported move.
The move was applauded by independent liquor and wine store owners even as it was denounced by supporters of the proposal.
"We're feeling very optimistic," reportedly said Michael McKeon, spokesman for Last Store on Main Street, a coalition for liquor and wine store associations created to fight the proposal. "The legislature has decided to save small businesses as opposed to giving more big bucks to big box stores."
Supporters of the proposal said the decision will cost New Yorkers millions of dollars in added revenue that would have been generated by licensing and other fees.
USA being a Federal system of government like India, allows the States to have their own alcoholic drinks marketing policy. All but 15 states, including the wine producing states, California and Washington, allow supermarkets to sell wine. New York State allows the sale only through the 19,000 authorised wine and liquor stores, like in Delhi.
The governor had a deadline of April 1 before which his budget had to be passed. So the status quo will be maintained in the state till the next budget, at least.
The fierce debate that was reported internationally, is also an indicator that when the Delhi government is ready to consider the supermarkets selling wine, there will surely be pressure on it from the existing liquor stores, a significant number of which are controlled by the state government undertakings. So the change in favour of the super markets might be later than sooner.
|