More than 80% of the U.S. population is able to buy wine in supermarkets. Advocates hope to convince the state Legislature to add New York’s 20 million residents to that group.
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Mona Golub, vice president of communications and public affairs for Price Chopper/Market 32’s parent company, Northeast Grocery, stands next to a sign promoting the New York State of Wine campaign to legalize the sale of wine in supermarkets. The campaign, launched in March, has been renewed for a push again during the upcoming session of the state Legislature, which begins Jan. 7.
Will Waldron/Times Union
ALBANY — With the opening early next month of the 2026 session of the state Legislature, the New York State of Wine coalition has renewed its campaign to legalize the sale of wine in supermarkets, already allowed in more than three dozen states.
The coalition is bolstering a second round of informational signs in five supermarket chains with the release of an analysis by an independent consulting firm that compares New York to four states that have made the change since 2016 with little ill effect on liquor stores, a main fear of opponents. The findings further project that wine in grocery stores, or WiGS, would generate $42 million more in annual state and local tax revenue, among other economic benefits including a boost to the state’s wine industry.
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“As much as we believe passage of this legislation is inevitable, we never expected it would happen overnight,” said Mona Golub, chair of New York State of Wine and vice president of communications and public affairs for Northeast Grocery, the Schenectady-based parent of Price Chopper, Market 32 and Tops Friendly Markets. The coalition, with members beyond supermarkets including wineries, the state business council and farm bureau, Instacart and others, is reinvigorating the campaign on multiple fronts and commissioned the economic-impact study to be able to deliver hard data, Golub said.
“There are a lot of rumors swirling” about the effects of WiGS, she said. “With federal cuts looming, we wanted to be able to demonstrate that this is one of the only revenue-positive, pro-consumer options available that doesn’t harm small businesses.”
“The idea that this will increase sales of New York wines by selling it in supermarkets is preposterous,” said Michael Correra, executive director of the Metropolitan Package Store Association, 30-year owner of a Brooklyn liquor store and a leading WiGS opponent. He said, “There isn’t one New York winery that will be able to get shelf space in a (New York) supermarket. Everywhere it’s available (in other states’ supermarkets), almost all of what’s on shelves is the big-name labels.”
“We are committed to New York state wines,” Golub said. A new-this-year WiGS bill provides incentives for supermarket promotion of wine made in New York, and, she said, the coalition’s goal is to help create distribution networks that will improve access for the state’s wineries.
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Referring to the estimated number of grocery stores that would become eligible under WiGS, Golub said, “Clearly, with the possibility of 1,500 new outlets, the opportunities for New York state wine will increase.”
What the public thinks
The latest poll addressing the issue, conducted Nov. 10 to 12 by the Siena Research Institute on behalf of the nonpartisan Coalition for Consumer Choice, surveyed 802 registered voters in New York. First reported earlier this week by Politico, it found support for WiGS had slipped slightly, to 70%, down from 78% in a January Siena poll paid for by New York State of Wine and 75% the last time Siena did an independent poll about WiGS, in November 2023. But opposition remains essentially unchanged, at 18% last month and in 2023 and 15% in January, or within the margin of error, research institute results show.
“Again and again when we’ve asked the question simply — thumb up or thumbs down on allowing grocery stores to sell wine — the support has been about 70 for, less than 20 against. That can be described as overwhelming,” said Don Levy, director of the Siena Research Institute.
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The results track consistently across political affiliation, gender, region, ethnicity, income level and age, Levy said. Even among Latinos, the demographic with the strongest WiGS opposition, support still has a nearly 2-to-1 margin, at 57% in favor, 29% against, the poll shows.
The latest WiGS push
Commissioned by New York State of Wine, the new economic analysis was performed by FTI Consulting, based in Washington and with offices in 85 cities in 32 countries and territories. FTI reviewed trends in four states that legalized WiGS between 2016 and 2023 — Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Tennessee — to model the effect of two scenarios in New York. Currently, 39 states and Washington, D.C., allow supermarkets to sell wine.
The WiGS scenario considered most relevant in New York now is based on legislation introduced in January by Assemblymember Pamela Hunter and Sen. Liz Krueger, Democrats from Syracuse and Manhattan, respectively. It would allow wine sales in full-service grocery stores of at least 4,000 square feet, effectively precluding such sales in pharmacies, convenience stores and gas stations licensed to carry beer, as well as blocking superstores like Walmart and Target by requiring that 65% of licensee sales be from food-related products.
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Krueger said Wednesday that she is more optimistic than ever about WiGS becoming law next year.
“Assemblywoman Hunter and I have spent quite a bit of time talking to people who think they were opposed and listening to their concerns,” she said. Referring to the FTI analysis, Krueger said, “When you’re pushing a piece of legislation that has controversy and people who have reasons to oppose it — and I get that — you want data to work off of. … It can be really valuable to making the case.”
In a concession to the liquor-store lobby, Krueger and Hunter amended their legislation in May to stipulate that a wine license could not be issued to a supermarket within 500 feet of an existing liquor store. The requirement would exclude wine sales at the Hannaford store at 900 Central Ave. in Albany, for example, and the Price Chopper in Kimberly Square in Loudonville, as small wine shops are just a few doors down from each. Similarly, the presence of All Star Wine & Spirits in Latham Farms would seem to prevent the shopping campus’ Hannaford store from carrying wine, as their respective front doors are about 450 feet apart, according to Google Maps and All Star owner Craig Allen.
Price Chopper/Market 32 and Tops Friendly Markets are being joined by the Hannaford and Wegmans chains in a refreshed roll-out of a pro-WiGS campaign on social media and other outlets and in stores. Posters on aisle shelves, counters and stanchions, provided by New York State of Wine, bear messages including, “What pairs well with groceries? Wine. Wish you could get it here? Tell New York it’s time for wine in grocery stores.”
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Scanning a QR code on the posters redirects to an informational page that allows shoppers to find their representatives in the state Legislature and email them and Gov. Kathy Hochul to express support for WiGS. The in-store posters first appeared in March in an effort to spur public interest before the Legislature adjourned in June, but the measure was not included in Hochul’s executive budget and never made it beyond the committee stage in either house.
Effect on liquor stores
The FTI analysis projects the Hunter/Krueger bill would offer financial benefits including $17.6 million in one-time license revenue and $42.7 million per year in new state and local tax revenues. It also estimates expanded sales from WiGS would support approximately 1,988 jobs and generate $371.7 million in new annual economic activity.
FTI said it saw “minimal long-term decline in liquor store numbers” after WiGS was allowed, finding, “Tennessee’s liquor store count increased by nearly 22%, Pennsylvania’s showed no significant change, Oklahoma’s declined by just 7% over five years, and Colorado’s fell by 2.6%.”
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The analysis said potential harm to liquor stores would be further abated because the Hunter/Krueger bill would expand products they can sell to include glassware, carbonated drink mixers and juices. (Only noncarbonated, flavorless waters are currently permitted.) The legislation does not specifically mention food sales in liquor stores, not presently allowed, but Krueger said that unspecified snacks and other nonperishable food would be permitted under bill language that allows “sale of products complementary” to wine and spirits.
Other factors
The second scenario considered by FTI extrapolates the effects of a more expansive WiGS bill from 2010 that would have permitted wine sales in most beer retail outlets statewide. While the Hunter/Krueger bill is estimated to add up to 1,495 supermarket wine licenses, the earlier legislation would have meant as many as 8,700 more wine retailers. (There are currently more than 3,300 liquor stores in New York, according to State Liquor Authority records.)
The economic impact of the 2010 legislation would be far greater, FTI said: five times more in one-time licensing revenue, at $92 million, and an additional $30 million annually in state and local sales tax. But the earlier bill, with its potential to increase the number of wine licenses almost sixfold, was rejected 15 years ago for being to aggressive and is still not seen as viable, Krueger said.
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Other benefits touted by the FTI analysis would be to the New York wine industry. It has fallen in annual sales from second behind California in 2001 to fourth today, having been surpassed by Washington and Oregon, and faces other competition on two fronts: canned, ready-to-drink cocktails are forecast to grow another 15% in popularity in the next five years, according to findings by Grand View Research; and the decline in alcohol consumption among younger, Gen-Z Americans, although that has increased lately.
The report projects New York vineyards and wineries and would reap $51.6 million in annual sales under WiGS, or $34.6 million more than if grocery stores were not allowed to sell wine. Further, according to FTI, wine tourism spending is projected to increase by roughly $268 million, with 10% allocated to additional winery output from increased sales in tasting rooms and 90% from tourism spending categories of hotels, restaurants and retail.
Finally, to try to assist New Work wineries, the Hunter/Krueger legislation requires the SLA to turn over to the state Department of Agriculture and Markets any funds in excess of $500,000 that it collects in one-time wine franchise fees of $10,000 per location — potentially more than $14 million. Ag and Markets would also receive 0.5% of a store’s annual sales of wine not made in New York. The bill directs the department to use the money “for promotion of New York state wines.”
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“These results show that … we would expect lower negative impact on liquor stores in New York compared to other states,” the FTI Consulting report concludes, adding, “Any such impact could be offset by increased sales of New York wine and associated agritourism, providing net positive benefits for the state.”