Protect our
Ny BUSINESSES
Say no to wine in grocery stores
Albany’s Wine-in-Grocery Plan Could Wipe Out New York’s Small, Family‑Run Wine and Liquor Shops
New York’s proposal to put wine in grocery stores is a direct attack on thousands of independent liquor stores, union workers, and the sales reps who keep this industry—and our communities—alive.
In the 2026 legislative session, Albany lawmakers are once again considering bills that would allow Wine in Grocery Stores, heavily promoted by a powerful coalition of big supermarkets and business interests – including Wegmans, Whole Foods (Amazon), ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Gristedes, Northeast Grocery (Price Chopper/Market 32 & Tops), select New York wineries, the Business Council of New York State, the New York Farm Bureau, Instacart, and others.
Tell Albany: protect neighborhood liquor and wine shops, not big‑box profits. New York’s independent, family‑run stores depend on wine sales to survive, while national supermarket chains and app-based delivery giants already dominate food and household spending.
Use your voice to send a clear message: Wegmans, Whole Foods, and other large grocers do not need liquor and wine sales to stay in business—but your local liquor store does. Urge lawmakers and Governor Hochul to stand with small businesses, union workers, and main street communities by rejecting wine-in-grocery-stores legislation.
This legislation would inflict serious and lasting harm on New York’s independent liquor stores, the sales representatives who serve them, small and mid‑size wineries, everyday consumers, and the communities that rely on these neighborhood businesses.
This bill mainly benefits big national players. The real winners would be large supermarket chains and a handful of national wine conglomerates, while small, independent liquor stores shoulder the losses.
Closures, job losses, and less choice are not “maybes” — they are the predictable outcome. Experience in other states shows that when grocery stores take over wine sales, many independent liquor stores see double‑digit sales declines, leading to closures, layoffs, and a smaller selection for consumers.
Fewer independent shops means fewer good, specialized jobs. Neighborhood liquor and wine stores employ trained professionals who know products, vintages, regions, and responsible service; large grocery chains will not replace those skilled positions with in‑store wine experts.
Independent wine shops are anchors of local main streets. They pay local taxes, activate foot traffic, and support nearby restaurants and small retailers; when these shops close, communities lose an important piece of their small‑business ecosystem and character.
Public safety will be put at risk. Expanding wine sales into high‑volume grocery environments—with self‑checkout and multiple exits—creates more points of access, more enforcement challenges, and more chances for underage buyers to slip through the cracks, especially as outlet density increases.
Local wineries will be squeezed off the shelf. Grocery stores build their profits around high‑volume, nationally advertised brands, not small producers; over time, that means fewer opportunities for New York’s small and mid‑size wineries to reach consumers and grow.
Stand with Local Stores: Help Stop the Wine in Grocery Stores Bill
*
Stand with Local Stores: Help Stop the Wine in Grocery Stores Bill *
Our voices matter in this fight. New York’s independent liquor stores are legally allowed to sell only two products: wine and spirits. When big‑box grocery chains demand the right to sell wine, they are asking Albany to hand them one of the few lifelines that keeps neighborhood liquor stores alive.
Grocery stores already make their profits on thousands of other items. They do not need wine to survive—but family‑owned liquor stores do. If wine is shifted into supermarket aisles, it will siphon off the sales that local shops rely on to pay workers, rent, and taxes in your community.
Tell Albany to stand with small businesses, not corporate chains. Protect local stores. Keep wine where it belongs.
Use the form below to send a message to Governor Hochul and your legislators that Wine in Grocery Stores does not belong in New York!
Join the fight
FAQs
-
Absolutely. Wine sales make up 40-75% of sales in NYS liquor stores — if we give customers the opportunity to buy it elsewhere, sales will go down and small businesses will either close or consolidate by laying off employees and decreasing variety of stock.
-
Supporters of WIGS say that 70% of New Yorkers support it. In reality, this was in response to a thumbs up or thumbs down question about WIGS. The poll does not discuss tradeoffs, which are a major part of this argument — including impact on small businesses, increased alcohol access to all ages, and market consolidation. One of the most important talking point that the article or WIGS supporters fail to discuss is youth access to alcohol — there has been no mention of following crucial alcohol purchasing laws, such as proper ID checks, the dangers of using self checkout lines, less employees per square feet leading to lack of security, and more.
-
Yes. Not only are small businesses the backbone of New York, but the decline in sales due to WIGS will cause significant closures and job losses. Supermarkets who are not locally owned or even based in New York (such as Whole Foods, ShopRite, Hannaford, Aldi, Stop & Shop, Price Rite, FoodTown, and many more), do not care about the NYS economy or who suffers from this — they just want to increase their sales and consolidate the market.
-
In many cases, if a grocery store is in a strip mall or plaza, they own the buildings and have tenants pay rent to them. If WIGS is passed, nothing is stopping the grocery stores from not renewing the lease of nearby liquor stores to eliminate competition. There are also loopholes to this rule: only front doors are measured, so grocery stores can make their front door as far away as possible from the nearby liquor store to qualify as “farther than 500 feet away”. For dense urban areas such as NYC, the layouts of buildings and streets can also further encourage these loopholes.
-
In reality, we know big-box supermarkets are profit-driven. They will prioritize the name brand labels — across states with WIGS, supermarket wine sections are mainly mass-produced national brands. Regardless of the “incentives” provided, small wineries will still struggle to secure meaningful shelf space due to this competition, volume discounts, distribution networks, and slotting fees. In addition, the 0.5% of annual sales of non NYS wine is minimal and effectively meaningless for big box grocery stores, as they already have high profits without the addition of wine. For example, Northeast Grocery (Market 32, Price Chopper, and Tops), profited $250 million in 2021 — 0.5% of wine sales is essentially nothing to them. The effectiveness of this incentive implementation will also depend on supermarket cooperation and constant oversight, which is not reasonable.
-
No. For years, independent liquor stores have followed strict NYS laws and application rules. For example, an individual or company can only own one liquor store license in NY. Wine in grocery stores would allow grocery stores with hundreds of locations to have liquor licenses and sell wine. This essentially overrides the laws that liquor stores are required to follow.
In addition, grocery stores would not have to follow the “public convenience and advantage” standard that liquor store applicants have been for years — and even denied for. Grocery stores would also override this rule.
In the news
-
Churchill: Wine in supermarkets? Maybe, but let's be honest about the impact
-
NYS Comptroller, Wine in Grocery Stores
-
Auburn liquor store owner: Wine sales in grocery stores would be 'devastating' to business
-
Commentary: Supermarket wine sales would kill small businesses
-
Liquor store owners in Queens refute ‘supermarket-backed’ poll suggesting New Yorkers prefer wine from grocery stores
-
Lawmakers push for wine to be sold in NY grocery stores, local liquor store owners react
-
New York Wine In Grocery Stores Bill Dies
-
2 years into law changes, grocers tout popularity while liquor stores weather storm
-
Wine in grocery stores? Lawmakers tweak plan to address opposition