Relaxing the Liquor Laws?

Dear Retailers,

As state and local governments continue to deal with budget shortfalls and a high unemployment rate, discussions over relaxing age old liquor and wine laws have become more prevalent.   New York generates the most attention as they continue their long debate over allowing grocery stores to sell wine and liquor.  New York is not alone.   Tennessee, Kansas, and Oklahoma have discussed similar options for expanding the number of wine/liquor outlets.     The Pennsylvania government started hearings to discuss privatizing the huge state monopoly on liquor and wine while Texas and Connecticut deliberate over allowing alcohol sales on Sundays.    All these discussions for expanding brick and mortar licenses continue while a host of states ponder changes to their cross border wine shipment laws to deal with growing online wine sales.   

In any case, these discussions are not new, but they have taken a new tone as every municipality struggles to generate revenue they need desperately.   We feel that 2011 will be a very interesting and productive year in terms of legislative changes that may fundamentally change the way wine is sold throughout the United States (both on and offline).  It's hard keeping up with all the changes but we look forward to updates from our customers around the country and from great industry resources like the newsletters from the ABL.
We love talking about these issues so don't be shy to bring them up and give us your perspective anytime!

Cheers!
True Fabrications