Wine at grocery stores could be back on the 2027 shopping list

Assembly Member Amanda Septimo said wine and liquor sales would be a needed financial boost for struggling grocery stores and bodegas – and she’ll make another legislative push next year to make that legal. 

“To think about the fact that something that is so obviously simple and could be beneficial for so many parts of the state, that we're debating it as long as we have, is one of the stunning parts of Albany,” she said. 

Septimo keynoted “A Modern Marketplace: The Future of Alcohol Policy” in New York on Thursday at New York Law School in Manhattan. The half-day conference was presented by City & State and sponsored by the Coalition to Expand Consumer Choice, an industry group focused on updating the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Law.

Allowing wine and liquor sales outside of specialized stores has been debated for years, but never enacted into law, primarily due to concerns it would kill the existing liquor store industry.

But Septimo said it was time to change.

“We’re dealing with a set of alcohol laws that were enacted in an era that simply doesn’t exist anymore. These laws were built before you could Uber Eats tequila to your house, before High Noons and Cutwaters, and so many other ways that the world has changed,” she said. “And so it really just doesn't follow that we are sort of relying on the same regulatory concept.”

Other aspects of alcohol law were discussed on other panels. Chelsea Davis, deputy secretary for gaming, cannabis and alcohol in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said that cannabis beverages with THC need to be part of the modernization conversation, too. 

“I do think those beverages are cannibalizing our cannabis industry,” she said. “We just have to make sure we don’t do it at the expense of cannabis dispensaries, or at the expense of public health.”

And the audience cheered at the mention of reforming the “200-foot rule” – which currently bars liquor licenses within a certain distance from churches and schools. 

State Sen. James Skoufis suggested that restaurants or bars could be given a carveout if the neighbors approve. “The restaurant or bar, go get a sign-off from the church pastor, whoever it is, the school administrator,” he said – and that would be part of the application to the State Liquor Authority.