Study Shows That Allowing Grocery Stores to Sell Wine Will Save Massachusetts Consumers $26 to $36 Million Per Year

BOSTON, MA - Aug. 23 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- A newly released study of the Massachusetts Wine at Food Stores Initiative concluded that updating state law to allow grocery stores to sell wine would save Massachusetts consumers an estimated $26 to $36 million dollars each year. The study noted that data from the 34 other states that already allow grocery stores to sell wine show that grocery stores are as good or better than package stores at enforcing minimum drinking age laws and that competition in wine sales from grocery stores does not drive package stores out of business.

Under an existing Massachusetts law enacted in 1934, most grocery stores are unable to get a license to sell wine - giving package stores a virtual monopoly on sales of bottled wine. The Wine at Food Stores Initiative, which will be Question 1 on the November statewide ballot, will give town and city officials the option of issuing "wine-at-food-store licenses" to qualified grocery stores. These wine-only licenses will be available to stores that carry the range of food products "typically found in a grocery store," including "meat, poultry, dairy products, eggs, fresh fruit and produce, baked goods and baking ingredients, canned goods and dessert items."

The study released today, titled "Likely Economic and Regulatory Effects of the Massachusetts Wine at Food Stores Initiative" was prepared at the request of the Massachusetts Food Association by the Northbridge Group, a Massachusetts-based national consulting firm specializing in economic, financial, and regulatory analyses.