Colorado liquor and wine retailers are banding together to defend their turf from giant companies thirsty for a bigger share of the industry’s sales. If voters approve three propositions on Tuesday, November 8, grocery stores that sell beer could sell wine, an entity would have an accelerated path to an unlimited number of retail licenses, and third parties would be able to deliver alcohol to customers. “People argue convenience, and my argument is convenience at what cost? ” says Mat Dinsmore, owner of Wilbur’s Total Beverage in Fort Collins, Colorado. “There are 1,650 independent retailers in Colorado. How many jobs is it going to cost? How many businesses are going to fail?”
Proposition 124 would increase the number of retail liquor licenses a Colorado entity can hold from two to eight in 2023, and slowly increase to an unlimited number after 2037. “It’s fairly contentious,” says Chris Fine, executive director of the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association, which represents about 1,600 independent beverage alcohol stores in the Centennial State. “A lot of people want a piece of the alcohol industry.”
In 2016, a law was adopted in Colorado permitting grocery stores to sell full strength beer and incrementally allow stores to sell wine and spirits by 2037. Wine can currently only be bought at licensed liquor stores. Proposition 125 would permit convenience and grocery stores — such as Walmart, Whole Foods, and Krogers — licensed to sell beer to also sell wine beginning in March 2023. Stores could also apply for tasting permits. “Big companies are trying to change the liquor laws for the benefit of the few at the expense of all family-owned Colorado companies,” Dinsmore says. “It could change overnight. We’ve seen in other markets predatory pricing and unfair business practices. Quite frankly, it’s greed. These are multinational, publicly traded, Fortune 500 companies driving out mom-and-pops.”
Proposition 122 would allow third-party delivery of alcoholic beverages from companies such as Grubhub and Uber. “In Colorado, a beverage alcohol retailer can deliver but it has to be by a company employee who is at least 21 in a company-owned or leased vehicle,” Dinsmore explains. “There are guardrails to ensure that people are going to do it right.”
Fine says the third-party delivery could be a huge public safety issue. “Everyone got accustomed to having everything dropped off at your front door during covid,” he says. “If a retailer makes a delivery to a minor, the store will have its license suspended or revoked or have a gargantuan fine. The third-party delivery companies will have a lot less to lose.”
If voters approve the measures, Fine estimates one-third to one-half of the 1,600 stores could lose their business. “You are talking about 500 to 800 small businesses going out of business because of greed,” Fine says. “This is the antithesis to the spirit of the law created when Prohibition was repealed.”
Fine and his organization are working with other industry groups to use social media to encourage people to vote against the initiatives. “We created something called ‘Keeping Colorado Local,’” he says. “We don’t have deep pockets. This is a grassroots effort.”
Dinsmore is concerned about the potential impact if the three propositions are adopted. “Each business is different, but I could lose 25% of my business overnight,” he says. “I employ 45 team members from cashiers, stockers, people who work in the cooler, wine buyer, beer buyer, liquor buyer, warehouse manager, receiving manager, online order fulfillment, office manager, marketing. In our house, we have a lot of different people who do a lot of different things. We have invested in our staff and their education.”