From bread to chardonnay, a ballot debate rages

Dan Comerford takes wine very seriously: His Somerville liquor store, the Wine & Cheese Cask, sells about 2,600 varieties, ranging in price from $5 to $500.

But most wine buyers are not connoisseurs, and some of Comerford's customers would not make a separate trip to his store if they could pick up a standard bottle of $10 chardonnay at their local supermarket.

''It's convenience -- we'd all do it," Comerford said. ''If you're buying milk and bread and your Robert Mondavi is in the next aisle, you'll buy it there."

This fall, Massachusetts voters will decide whether to allow as many as 2,000 food stores to sell wine, revising a 1934 law that prevents most grocers and supermarkets from selling alcohol now. The debate over the ballot initiative pits supermarkets and corner grocers against liquor wholesalers and small package-store owners such as Comerford. Grocery chains have already spent nearly $500,000 to collect signatures to get the initiative on the November ballot, and both sides are expected to pour millions of dollars into a fight that is shaping up as a sleeper issue in the 2006 election year.

Opponents of the initiative say issuing liquor licenses to allow supermarkets to sell wine might increase drunken-driving and underage drinking and deal a severe economic blow to neighborhood liquor stores. But supporters tout the measure as a boon to consumers, who will be able to buy wine more conveniently and at lower prices.

''It would be one-stop shopping," said Fred White, 46, who bought a $10.99 bottle of Spanish white at Blanchard's Liquors in Jamaica Plan one night last week. White said he often comes to Blanchard's, but he relished the prospect of buying wine at the same time he buys groceries.

''Often you're making dinner and you want some wine to go with it. Why make two stops?" he said.

Massachusetts recently has relaxed some alcohol laws, shedding vestiges of the state's Puritan past. Two years ago, the state began allowing Sunday liquor sales, and at the end of last year the Legislature approved a law allowing residents to use the Internet to buy wine from out of state. Governor Mitt Romney vetoed the measure, but lawmakers may overrule him.

This year's ballot initiative to allow wine sales in grocery stores is being pushed by the Massachusetts Food Association, which represents supermarket chains and about 600 other food stores. Major supermarket chains, including Stop & Shop and Shaw's, have already donated to a ballot committee called the ''Massachusetts Food Association for Consumer Convenience in Wine Sales." The group has collected enough signatures to put the initiative on the November ballot and is awaiting pro forma legislative approval.

Under current law, most of the state's 12,267 retail liquor licenses are held by liquor stores, bars, and restaurants. The law includes a three-license limit for each business owner, a major impediment for supermarket chains that want to sell wine at all of their outlets. Only 24 of the 308 major supermarket outlets in Massachusetts sell alcohol, according to the Massachusetts Food Association.

The ballot initiative would create a new class of liquor licenses for food stores that want to sell wine, without a limit on the number of wine licenses a single owner could hold. City and town officials, who are currently responsible for issuing liquor licenses, also would hand out the new ones. Towns with fewer than 5,000 people would be allowed to issue up to five licenses, and larger communities would be able to issue one additional license for every 5,000 people. The new licenses would be for wine sales, not hard liquor or beer.

''For us, it's about customer convenience. We look at it as a way to expand our concept of one-stop shopping and give customers the convenience they are looking for," said Faith Weiner, a spokeswoman for Quincy-based Stop & Shop. ''Wine goes with food. Customers come to our stores to purchase food. It seems like a natural extension to allow them to purchase wine."

Christopher P. Flynn, who heads the Massachusetts Food Association, said liquor stores are trying to protect ''a virtual monopoly." He said the group decided to focus on wine because ''it goes with food, and we know the public has wide support for it."

''It's not like a supermarket is going to offer a $60 bottle of wine or a $40 bottle of wine, and they're not going to be selling beer or spirits," he said. ''People are still going to go to liquor stores. Liquor stores that are competitive and serve their customers will survive."

Flynn noted that package stores are plentiful even in states such as Texas and Florida, where many supermarkets sell beer and wine.

There are more than 3,000 liquor stores in the Bay State, and their owners are alarmed by the competitive threat that big grocery chains, with their huge advertising budgets, would bring.

''Wine, among all alcoholic beverages, has the highest profit margin," said Frank Anzalotti, head of the 700-member Massachusetts Package Stores Association. ''Certainly it will make a difference in the bottom line for these stores."

Anzalotti fears that if the grocery stores win approval of new wine licenses, they will be back in a few years to seek approval to sell beer or even hard liquor at their stores. He also noted that the state isn't planning on beefing up its alcohol enforcement to match the increase in liquor licenses. In this month's newsletter to members, his group said it expects to spend about $3 million to defeat the measure.

Since the late 1980s, the package stores and liquor wholesalers have beaten back numerous attempts in the Legislature to extend more liquor licenses to food stores, but this is the first time they've faced a ballot initiative.

Comerford, the owner of the Wine & Cask, estimates that a change in the liquor laws would drain about 5 percent of his business. But he believes that smaller stores, especially those located in strip malls with grocery stores, would take a much larger hit. He isn't optimistic about the chances of defeating the measure.

''I can't imagine it not passing," he said. ''Do I want it? No. Is it going to happen? I think so."

Package store owners' best hope may lie with such people as Ben Howard. Last week, Howard bought a bottle of merlot at Liquor World, which shares a Porter Square, Cambridge, strip mall with a Star Market supermarket that doesn't sell alcohol. Howard said he will vote ''no" on the ballot initiative to protect the neighborhood from being ''taken over" by larger retailers.

''Price is a big thing for me, and my guess is that grocery stores would end up being cheaper. At the same time, I like going into little liquor stores," he said. ''I'd probably save a couple of bucks going to the grocery store, but I'd rather the area not be taken over."

Scott Greenberger can be reached at greenberger@globe.com.