OUR VIEW: Bread, milk, wine, beer and hard liquor

Most Colorado consumers like their local mom and pop liquor stores, especially now that they’re open on Sundays. The people who own and operate them are hard-working small business people who respond efficiently to the demands of their customers.

Yet Coloradans have a bit of a love-hate relationship with these friendly independent liquor sellers. That’s because they use a business model crafted by state regulation, and not market demand. Most consumers would like to buy wine, beer and whiskey in the same place they buy milk. But state law prevents convenience stores and grocers from selling wine and liquor and even beer that contains more than 3.2 percent alcohol. The mom and pop liquor stores are great, and they’re abundant. They are located near almost every major supermarket. But they also represent a separate stop that most consumers don’t care for.

Changing the law has long been a burdensome prospect. That’s because the mom and pop shops were established in good faith under legal protection against competition from supermarket chains. A sudden change would simply put them out of business, with little opportunity to recoup their investments. Few consumers would make a separate stop, given the opportunity to one-stop shop at Safeway.

Finally, a bill has come along that would improve consumer options while preserving the investments made by small liquor retailers. A bill with multiple sponsors would allow a grocer to buy a liquor store, and its liquor license, if it’s within 1,000 feet of the business.

It’s a brilliant solution, and one that should have been proposed long ago. It enables a grocer to sell liquor, but only if it negotiates a deal with the existing retailer. At the least, small retailers would be given the option to recoup their investments. In many cases, it could result in a major return on investment. It also enables the established liquor retailer to remain in business, by refusing any offer a grocer makes. In this equation, few would lose and most, including the consumer, would win.

The only potential hardship would be on the owners of liquor stores that are not within 1,000 feet of grocery stores. They would undoubtedly lose some business to grocers. But one stipulation in the bill could offset much of the loss by creating an incentive for independent liquor retailers to step up the game. The bill would allow independents to host wine tasting events, but would forbid grocers from doing so. That would give the stand-alone merchant a substantial advantage in attracting genuine wine connoisseurs away from the likes of King Soopers, Albertson’s and Safeway.

Another bill would allow convenience stores to sell full-strength beer.

The bills are pro-consumer and fair to our friends and neighbors who have invested in independent liquor businesses. Both bills should be passed, finally freeing the liquor trade of outdated, artificial impediments.— Wayne Laugesen, editorial page editor, for the editorial board