Tennessee groceries may stock wine in near future

OK, I thought Georgia had some screwed up blue laws but we are pretty progressive when you compare us to our neighbors from the north. I found this from WBIR.com, which is a Knoxville TV station. Here is the short article in its entirety:

The year 2009 could be when wine comes to Tennessee grocery shelves. State law currently requires any alcohol stronger than beer to be sold in liquor stores only. The Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association is trying to change that. They say the sale of wine at grocery stores could generate anywhere from $17-50 million in extra revenue from the state. Liquor stores say that could put them out of business. At the very least, there would be a lot of jobs lost. State Senator Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro introduced this legislation last year, but it failed. Sen. Ketron said he will introduce it again and believes the measure has a fairly good chance of passing.

Come on people, prohibition is over! It is time to get with the times! It is 2008 and we are still worried about beer and wine. It is reasons like this that the rest of the country thinks the South is slow and stupid! Having more options leads to more competition, which is better for the consumers. Most people drink wine with food, so it makes sense to be able to pick up a bottle or two while you are picking up items for your grocery list. I don’t understand the fear that liquor stores have if this law passes. They will still be the main source of wine for the consumers, especially the high-end consumers. The grocery stores won’t be carrying high priced wines, they will focus on the value and moderate priced bottles. The high-end bottles will still be mainly sold at the liquor stores. Also they are still the only place to get hard liquor. So their argument doesn’t hold water that they will go out of business.

I didn’t even realize that the grocery stores in Tennessee didn’t sell wine, but now that I do know that, I am going to follow this push to get that law changed. As I am doing here in Georgia to get the no beer or wine sales law changed. It is all a little ridiculous that the Southern Baptists have that much power! Now that you can have wine shipped to Georgia, the next step is to be able to buy it in stores on Sundays! Hang in there Tennessee, maybe your politicians will figure it out soon!