7/2/2023 0 Comments New york wine shop![]() Through their lobbyists, both Wegmans and the liquor store industry have been active in the halls of the Capitol in recent weeks.Įarlier this month, state Sen. “I'm waiting to see what the Legislature does,” Hochul told reporters in Buffalo last week. Kathy Hochul will be more receptive, though Hochul herself has given no public indication of where she stands on the matter. Now, Wegmans and other grocers are hoping Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s opposition to the measure. But the company eased up for much of the 13 years since - hampered in part by Gov. Like the current push, Wegmans was the main financial driver behind the 2010 effort. But the liquor stores and wholesalers rose up against it, ensuring its defeat in Albany. David Paterson resurrected the push in 2010, putting his support behind a more wide-ranging effort to allow grocers to sell all sorts of wines. Mario Cuomo proposed allowing supermarkets to carry wine – but only if it was made in New York in an effort to promote the state’s wine-making industry. Like many of New York’s alcohol laws, the rules restricting wine sales to liquor stores trace back to the end of Prohibition. ![]() New York and Connecticut are among 11 states that do not allow grocery stores to sell wine. “And I think the answer obviously is yes.” “I think you have to start looking at wine in grocery stores from the first part of it, which is: Do people want it?” said Paul Zuber, executive vice president of the Business Council, an Albany-based business organization that has spent years lobbying on the issue. ![]() The same coalition successfully fended off Wegmans’ last significant effort to pass a more expansive bill back in 2010.īut supporters of the measure say the bill would simply give New Yorkers what they want: 75% of New York voters say they want wine available in grocery stores, according to a Siena College poll - which Wegmans commissioned as part of its lobbying effort. The push is being met with significant resistance from liquor stores and their wholesale providers, who say it would change the paradigm for wine sales in New York and put many shops out of business. It’s spending at least $32,000 this month on its lobbying and public relations efforts related to the wine bill, according to state ethics disclosures. ![]() The grocery chain, which has a store at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and is opening another location on Astor Place in Manhattan, has erected signs outside their stores, directing customers to a website where they can easily send messages to their local legislators in support of the measure. ![]()
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