Colorado’s liquor laws are past due for an update and a pair of bills before the General Assembly would both erase many of the disparities that now exist in the marketplace and greatly benefit consumers.
One would allow small convenience stores to stock full-strength beer instead of the 3.2 percent beer they are limited to now.
Another would allow grocery stores to buy liquor stores that are within 1,000 feet of their stores. Grocery stores now stock the same low-alcohol beer available at convenience stores. With the liquor store’s license, the grocer then could sell liquor, wine and beer just like an honest-to-goodness bottle shop.
For years, we’ve advocated a free-market approach when it comes to selling booze. But we have done so with genuine concern for the many mom-and-pop liquor stores that have generated a good business for themselves under the existing rules, which, quite frankly, have created a false market by unfairly penalizing grocery and convenience stores.
Past efforts to legalize spirits at grocery stores faced justifiable arguments that opening the competition to supermarkets would hurt some liquor stores and drive some, particularly those nearest to grocery stores, out of business.
The logic is irrefutable. Why would a shopper seeking wine to accompany dinner skip the racks at the grocery store and instead cross the parking lot for the liquor store? Most would not.
So in the past, we’ve called for a lengthy phase-in to allow liquor stores to prepare for the transition. But the bill sponsored by Reps. Buffie McFayden, Ed Casso, Jack Pommer, David Balmer and Sen. Suzanne Williams solves the problem in a way that should be far more lucrative to those liquor store owners most at risk.
A bottle shop owner could sell the store and the license for a potentially big payday. Or the owner could block the grocer from competing simply by not selling.
The proposal provides another protection for liquor-store owners; grocers who do obtain liquor licenses would be barred from holding wine-tasting events. So boutique liquor stores that build impressive collections and who can hold the tastings have a better chance of swaying some of those dinner shoppers mentioned above and keeping more customers who want more than run-of-the-mill offerings.
The convenience store bill — sponsored by Reps. Larry Liston, McFayden, Casso, Balmer and John Soper — would allow stores smaller than 5,000 square feet to sell full-strength beer, and allow liquor stores that fear the new competition to stock non-perishable snacks. That helps even the playing field.
Allowing liquor stores to open on Sunday has hurt convenience stores, which lost traffic on that day because of the unequal product offerings.
The 3.2 percent law is a relic of the Prohibition era that should have been repealed long ago.
These bills are good, pragmatic fixes, and we hope to raise a toast to their successful passage.
