Atomic City Talk

Every time I meet someone new to Tennessee, I'm asked why there's no wine in our grocery stores. "Because this is Tennessee" is the only answer I know... and it doesn't seem like a very good answer.

WATE reports that there's a bill again this year to permit wine sales in grocery stores. This is surely a better idea than selling beer in gas stations.

I sympathize with the small retailers, but the current law is just silly.

Heh.

Yeah, I remember moving from Tennessee to North Carolina in '77, and being surprised to see wine being sold in the grocery stores. OTOH, there was no wine or liquor served in restaurants. Later, we got liquor by the drink in Chapel Hill, but when I left in '82, you still couldn't buy beer or wine in grocery stores on Sunday until 1 PM (the state liquor stores were closed entirely on Sunday).

When we moved to St. Louis in '82, I was even more surprised to find beer, wine and liquor all sold in grocery stores. OTOH, St. Louis still had blue laws back then, so most stores were closed all day Sunday, and while you could still buy groceries, the grocery store couldn't sell alcohol or even things like mops. A few years later, the blue laws were repealed, but they still chained off the alcohol section on Sunday. Several years ago, it became legal to sell alcohol on Sunday.

What a bunch of foolishness we used to have about alcohol sales!

Wine is certainly significantly cheaper in Missouri than in Tennessee. I wonder if this is totally the state excise tax, or if the fact that it is sold in package stores in Tennessee results in a markup.

My understanding is that the liquor lobby opposes selling wine in grocery stores and buying wine from out of state over the internet. Their lobby is the most powerful in our fair state with the trucking /highway construction right behind. Don't see any hope of that changing. They simply have too much power (money)!

I'm not sure what the comparative taxes are between MO and TN, but I'm quite certain that the fact that wine is only sold in liquor stores results in a heftier markup for consumers. The article on WATE quotes a local liquor store owner as saying it will "devastate" every small liquor store in Tennessee, because the chain grocers can "buy in bulk, and offer lower prices."

While in Nashville a few months ago, I found an excellent beer that I would love to buy again, but no one sells it locally (including Knoxville). Unfortunately, Tennessee is one of only a half-dozen or so states where it's illegal to order beer or wine online and have it delivered via UPS.

It's time for the laws of this state to serve the people, not the lobbyists.

I found this which seems to have interesting insights.

The bride and I received two cases of wine for Christmas both this year and last year. My step-mother who is a connoisseur and takes her wine VERY seriously has found a way around the issue by linking the particular wines she sends to a Tennessee warehouse that distributes it within the state. I'm not sure of the particulars of how she does it.....nor do I want to know.......just in case we are breaking the law!!! I certainly do anticipate UPS bringing my Christmas present each year......however she manages it!

How apropos!

Cowboy, I'd love to know if one can order gourmet beers from in-state distributors (even smallish quantities). That may be the way around it... it might even be legal!

This was the biggest adjustment I had to cope with moving from ultra-liberal California (where you could buy *anything* alcoholic at 24-hour grocery stores, including liquor) to south of the Mason-Dixon Line. If wine sales were authorized for retailers, then maybe we could get a Trader Joe's (http://www.traderjoes.com) in Oak Ridge and really thumb our nose at Farragut!

Ah, to have a Trader Joe's. That's one store that would do tremendously well in Oak Ridge. I used to have my sister-in-law ship their coffee to me by the case from LA.