Grocery stores may not be the only new outlets allowed to sell wine and full-strength beer under a still-developing plan to loosen Colorado’s liquor laws. Convenience stores and big- box retailers could, too.
The state’s more than 1,800 gas stations want a piece of the beer and wine market and have convinced the lawmakers carrying the bill that they should get it, said Mark Larson, head of the Colorado Wyoming Petroleum Marketers Association.
Currently, the grocery chains’ proposed bill allows only stores that generate at least 51 percent of their revenue from food sales and that operate pharmacies to sell wine and full-strength beer.
A spokesman for the grocery chains said the bill is still under negotiation. A lobbyist for the liquor stores said the industry opposes the proposed changes.
In a Jan. 18 e-mail sent to Senate sponsor Brandon Shaffer, the convenience stores also suggested allowing liquor-store owners to operate more than one shop and to sell food, both of which are banned in Colorado.
“I like these suggestions. What do you think?” the Longmont Democrat wrote to the lobbyist managing the bill for grocery chains.
Shaffer did not return a call for comment Monday.
House sponsor Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said Monday he supported the proposed changes to the bill, which should be filed by Feb. 8.
“I would like to break down these old laws, but it is awfully complicated,” Pommer said.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
