Little Rock, Arkansas – Some liquor store owners are worried about a bill that passed the House Rules Committee on Wednesday. Owners of liquor stores would be permitted to operate several sites under SB97.
According to Michelle Brewer, owner of Legacy Wine and Spirits, “small businesses like mine will just not be able to survive,”
Concerns over a plan that would permit shop owners to possess multiple retail locations are being voiced by some liquor store owners in the state to lawmakers in Arkansas.
Individual liquor stores are now only permitted to have one retail permit by the state.
Representative Jeremiah Moore (R-District 61) stated, “What this does is it adds two additional possible permits that they can own but they have to be in separate counties and those counties have to have a population of 200,000 people or more.”
They fear that large businesses would gradually deplete them and force them out of business, according to John Kelly, owner of Longhills Wine and Spirits and a member of the United Beverage Retailers of Arkansas.
“This legislation would give them the ability to have another store in Benton and another store in Pulaski County,” Kelly stated. “It is obviously favoring Walmart, a large, powerful organization, and it will encourage other large, powerful organizations to enter the state and start operating liquor businesses.”
According to Moore, the bill’s co-sponsor, this is not the goal; rather, it was intended to increase competition.
“This bill doesn’t directly reference any entities. This is about spreading the spirit of entrepreneurship and creating a free market.
Entrepreneurs also expressed worries that larger companies prevent them from offering lower costs.
“We will not be able to survive as small businesses like mine,” Brewer stated. “Undercutting, absorbing losses, or driving independent retailers out of the market will be impossible for us.”
During the discussion, Moore stated that if they are concerned about price fixing, it would not be a problem with this measure going ahead because it is banned in the state of Arkansas.
Moore stated that no seller or manufacturer of alcoholic beverages may take or refrain from taking any action that would result in the fixing of wholesale or retail pricing. “Price-fixing is prohibited. It is not permitted.
