Previously Published in The Messenger
Vision Long Island and the affiliated Long Island Main Street Alliance, non profit organizations both focused on the economic development, preservation and advocacy for small businesses across 45 downtowns across Nassau and Suffolk Counties, are aggressively opposing legislative efforts that would allow big box and grocery stores to sell wine in New York State.
In a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul (D-Hamburg) and the State Legislature, the groups strongly argue against legislation that they say, “will divert sales away from community-based businesses, putting many at risk of closure, layoffs, and reduced inventory. The impact would ripple through neighborhoods, harming workers, local wineries, and Main Street economies.”
On Long Island, there are over 675 small business wine and liquor stores and in New York as a whole, there are over 3,300 stores, each employing an average of 10 workers, with another 5,000 unionized sales, warehouse, and delivery workers servicing these stores. These mostly family-owned businesses are legally limited to selling just wine and spirits and solely rely on these sales to cover rent and employee wages.
“It is sad to see some elected leaders in Albany embrace the blueprint designed by billionaire supermarket chain owners to take total control over Long Island’s small business retail landscape, at a steep cost: the inevitable demise of local shopkeepers in once vibrant downtowns,” said Michael Correra, executive director of the Metropolitan Package Store Association, representing over 3,300 small, independent wine and liquor stores across New York State. “These local store owners are the fabric of the towns and villages that make Long Island so special and we urge New Yorkers to reach out to the governor and their local legislators to say No to wine in grocery stores.”
“Liquor stores are more than retailers, they support our local Main Street economies, generate foot traffic for nearby businesses, and provide consumer education about local wines and spirits,” said Eric Alexander, Director of Vision Long Island and the Founder of the Long Island Main Street Alliance. “Most importantly, they serve as vital stewards of New York’s renowned wine economy, promoting local wineries and preserving regional products.”
In the letter, Vision Long Island joins with the presidents of 13 United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union locals, who recently appealed to the governor stating that wine in grocery stores “will enable anti-union operators to leverage their market power against union employers in the liquor space and erode the standard of living for thousands of union families.”
An analysis by the nonprofit Consumer Reports found that many large grocery chains are price gauging consumers, by regularly overcharging for basic staples like meat and produce, with Amazon-owned Whole Foods found to be the most expensive grocery store in the United States. If these chains are suddenly granted the capacity to sell wine, consumers will simply shift their purchases of wine from liquor stores to grocery stores, enabling large grocery chains to have a stranglehold on sales and distribution, profiting further at the expense of union workers and local wine and liquor store owners.
“Look no further than local hardware stores and neighborhood bookstores that have been made obsolete by similar chain store giants,” said Correra. “If wine in grocery stores legislation is passed, local wine & spirits stores on Long Island and the entire state will wither on the vine and die, irreparably harming communities as these business are forced to close up for good.”