TCPR Testifies About Wine Sales in Grocery Stores

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research - testifying today before the House State and Local Government Committee - says Tennessee's ban against wine sales in grocery stores is "bad policy" and that "these restrictions leave consumers without meningful choice and inflated wine prices."

TCPR's Justin Owen and Shaka Mitchell told Committee members today that because of that "bad policy," Tennessee's wine industry isn't contributing to the state's economy as it should.

As a comparison, they pointed to 2005, the wine industry contributed 59.2 million dollars to Tennessee's economy, while North Carolina's wine industry delivered 813 million dollars to that state's economy. 

"Not surprisingly," they say, "North Carolina permits both wine to be sold in grocery stores and shipped directly to consumers."

They point to the Legislature's Fiscal Review Committee's findings that allowing wine sales in grocery stores and allowing direct shipments to consumers would raise nearly 40 million dollars to state and local governments.