Tennessee Votes To Put Wine In Supermarkets

After a seven-year fight in the state legislature, Tennessee voters have decided whether they should be able to buy wine with their groceries, Wine Spectator reports. Thanks to a law passed this year, voters in 78 different Tennessee municipalities recently approved ballot proposals allowing wine sales in grocery stores. Those areas—including Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville—are home to approximately 70% of the population. State Senator Bill Ketron estimates that about 4.5 million people in a state of around 6.5 million will be able to buy a bottle of wine at a supermarket beginning in July 2016.

New markup requirements in the law are designed to prevent large stores from undercutting small ones through sheer purchasing power. Small wine retailers got other concessions as well. Effective this past July, retailers may sell beer, mixers, cigarettes, snacks and ice as well as wine and liquor, and can open multiple locations and apply for licenses to serve, meaning they could open a restaurant next to their store. Meanwhile, wholesalers, whose premises were previously restricted to municipalities with populations over 100,000, may now expand into some less populous areas.

Tagged : retail, retailers, Tennessee, Wine Spectator

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