Durango grocery stores began selling wine this week after Colorado voters passed Proposition 125 in November, clearing the way for grocery stores and convenience stores to begin sales March 1.
The ballot issue passed with 50.6% of voters in favor and 49.4% against – out of 2,428,613 ballots cast. Most of the votes against the measure were from rural counties. A majority of La Plata County residents voted against the proposition with 57.3% of voters electing to keep wine out of grocery stores.
Seventeen of the 64 counties in Colorado voted in favor of the legislation. Four of them – Arapahoe, Denver, Adams and El Paso counties – rank among the top five most populous counties in the state.
The legislation was heavily supported by large grocery corporations.
Supporters raised about $14.6 million for propositions 125 and 126, with DoorDash, Instacart, Target, Albertsons, Safeway and Kroger among the top donors. (Proposition 126, which would have allowed to-go cocktails and third-party delivery services to deliver alcohol, did not pass.)
Wine was made available Wednesday at Albertsons, Walmart and both City Markets in Durango.
Albertsons spokeswoman Kristine Staaf said the amount of wine each store will carry will be based on the size of the store and the number of shoppers it serves.
“It’s a great day for consumers because they’re going to be able to pick up a bottle of wine when shopping for groceries,” she said.
Albertsons had to receive approval from the state and the city liquor licensing commission to remodel stores and begin sales. Staaf said wine selections at individual stores is likely to be limited until stores can see which products customers prefer. Wine selections may look sparse until stores ramp up.
Albertsons customers can expect top-selling products, which mostly include value brand wines.
“We’re continuing to kind of modify and get geared up for those sales,” she said. “It might not look in the most perfect shape but we’re working on it.”
Stores look at beer sales among other areas to evaluate how much wine they could potentially sell. They also evaluate the overall surface space of the store.
South City Market has wine available in the front of the store near the checkout lines, while north City Market has wine located in aisle 10 in the seasonal section.
“We are looking forward to meeting our customers’ evolving needs and continuing to provide customers with the items they are looking for,” said Jessica Trowbridge, spokeswoman for Kroger. “Our shelves will be stocked with the flavors and varieties of the season and will match customers’ preferences.”
Wine is also available at Walmart, said Walmart spokeswoman Lauren Willis. Some of the available brands are Oak Leaf, Winemakers Selection & Reserve and Uno Mas Margaritas. The store also sells value wines Barefoot, Black Box and Decoy.
Staaf said it is hard to predict whether wine sales will increase overall sales for Albertsons and Safeway stores, but it is likely to have a positive impact.
It’s been over three years since grocery stores began selling full-strength beer, made possible by a law passed by the Colorado Legislature in 2018. Previously, grocery stores could sell only 3.2 beer, referring to the percentage of alcohol by volume.
The legislation increased beer sales revenue by grocery stores, convenience stores and big box stores from about $70 million in 2018 to $430 million in 2022, according to data tracked by market research company IRI.
However, some of that increase is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic when people stocked up on supplies. The Nielsen Co. reported a 54% year-over-year increase in national alcohol sales for the week ending March 21, 2020, just as nationwide pandemic lockdowns were beginning.
Data from the Colorado Department of Revenue show the number of gallons of beer and malt beverages grew from 126 million in 2019 to 128 million in 2021, while the number of liters of spirits and wine grew from 119 million to 136 million at the same time.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
