Bluntly, this is a legislatively sponsored hostile takeover of one sector: retail distribution of a controlled substance -alcohol, by another, food stores.
Doug Rankin
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Deregulation Jenga: What selling wine at grocery stores could mean for a thriving sector of the Connecticut economy
The real effect of HB 6101 will be to reallocate who gets to make a living selling wine in Connecticut, given that net alcoholic beverage sales are relatively flat. Sections 55 and 56 of this bill tilts the table of an already weak small business economy even further toward big box business, as the inevitable inertia of one-stop shopping peels away enough dedicated customers and impulse purchasers to do great harm to current stakeholders (in which I include the buying public).