Regional
(2010-02-10)
DENVER, CO
(KUNC) -
Colorado lawmakers are once again in the middle of a fight over who gets to sell full-strength beer. But the battle is a little more complicated this year. In the past, convenience stores and supermarkets fought together for the right to sell more than 3.2 percent beer. But those bills died without ever making it out of committee... so this year they're going it alone. House Bill 1192 would give just convenience stores the ability to sell full-strength beer. Ben Davis is with the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association, a coalition of liquor stores, local breweries and distillers that opposes the measure. He says one of its biggest problems is it puts small business jobs at risk "Essentially all these small liquor store owners opened their businesses up in a marketplace where they knew who their competition was and who it wasn't. By changing these laws, they're threatening to close those stores. And they're doing it at a time when consumers feel like their needs are being met. In many ways this is a solution in search of a problem."
Convenience stores say they've been losing money on 3.2 beer sales since Colorado law was changed to allow liquor stores to stay open on Sundays. Supermarkets, meanwhile, want to be able to buy out the licenses of nearby liquor stores so they can sell full-strength beer, wine and liquor. That proposal, House Bill 1279, hasn't yet been scheduled for a hearing.
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