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In its Aug. 22 editorial, “Beer without pretzels,” the Rocky Mountain News correctly observes that the current law prohibiting chain supermarkets from selling booze is an anachronism that hurts consumers. It may also be hindering competition.
For example, the discount grocer Trader Joe’s has stores throughout the West. While this chain would surely find its niche in the Colorado grocery scene, its business model includes a wine department. It appears that this same law is discouraging Trader Joe’s and possibly others from expanding to our market.

Walt Stinson, Englewood

READER COMMENTS

it very well could be an outdated law not allowing grocery stores to sell booze. if grocery stores can sell it on sundays then the liquor stores could be open then too, but we have hear from our far left leaders that it would hurt the mom and pop stores as they would not get a day off.

I say lets do it as I dont see any reason to force a store to open on sunday if they dont want to like the colorado politicians said the last time this came up for a vote.
anyone ever hear of chick fil a? they are inteh fast food business and are closed on sundays and still do a great business the other 6 days.

Did I not hear that the state had looked at this and determined that it would cause a net loss of jobs. Grocery stores don't hire more people when the add a product line, but the liquor stores should would go out of business.

What's the problem with no sales on Sunday? If one is not lucid enough to stock up for the weekend one probably needs a day of sobriety.

Did I not hear that the state had looked at this and determined that it would cause a net loss of jobs. Grocery stores don't hire more people when the add a product line, but the liquor stores should would go out of business.

What's the problem with no sales on Sunday? If one is not lucid enough to stock up for the weekend one probably needs a day of sobriety.

the liquor stores would go out of business?
take off your rose colored glasses and wake up to the real world. all it would be is another option.

"...it would cause a net loss of jobs. Grocery stores don't hire more people when the add a product line, but the liquor stores should would go out of business."

Don't kid yourself. I live in California where grocer stores have been selling booze for 30+ years. In every shopping center with a grocery store is a liquor store which operates quite successful. Colorado just has a good donating lobby and strong "religious" groups which block the opening of booze in groceries.

It's a Coors conspiracy.

They can't muscle the big grocery chains for shelf space, but they sure can put the squeeze on local liquor stores.

And then what about the supression of bars and taverns in a free market place through govermental interference, the loss of tax revenue as it is now and will become even greater when the projected $30,000,000 + loss of casino taxes take effect in January all due to a smoking ban law that is still yet embroiled in the minds of incompetent legislators who acted in the first place without investigating the possible effects and consequences of their official actions.

I've lived in Arizona, Nevada, California, and Illinois, and spent a considerable amount of time living outside the U.S. in Britain and Germany. Colorado is the first state I've encountered where the sale of alcohol in grocery stores is prohibited (although the ban on Sunday sales is not necessarily new, it is also a rarity). For more information, check the Wikipedia entry on state by state alcohol laws

Yet everywhere else where grocery stores are allowed to sell alcohol local liquor stores have done just fine. So what is the rationale behind Colorado's laws? I could only conceive of a few motivations: 1) The Colorado liquor distributors want to keep a monopoly on the local market, discouraging competition, and use their lobbying influence to keep our laws in some sort of archaic temperance nirvana, or 2) the evangelical (conservative) Christians who wage war against the evils of "the demon rum" continue to exert their influence on our elected officials with tales of social disorder and decay resulting from more profligate sales of alcohol. Reality is likely some confluence of the two, and Colorado's citizens haven't seen fit to raise enough of a stink about it that the legislature feels any reason to look into fixing it.

I'd be open to hearing other ideas or points of view, but I think the appropriate method, in the absence of the necessary legislative spine, is to fix the current state of things with a citizen ballot initiative.

I've lived in Arizona, Nevada, California, and Illinois, and spent a considerable amount of time living outside the U.S. in Britain and Germany. Colorado is the first state I've encountered where the sale of alcohol in grocery stores is prohibited (although the ban on Sunday sales is not necessarily new, it is also a rarity). For more information, check the Wikipedia entry on state by state alcohol laws

Yet everywhere else where grocery stores are allowed to sell alcohol local liquor stores have done just fine. So what is the rationale behind Colorado's laws? I could only conceive of a few motivations: 1) The Colorado liquor distributors want to keep a monopoly on the local market, discouraging competition, and use their lobbying influence to keep our laws in some sort of archaic temperance nirvana, or 2) the evangelical (conservative) Christians who wage war against the evils of "the demon rum" continue to exert their influence on our elected officials with tales of social disorder and decay resulting from more profligate sales of alcohol. Reality is likely some confluence of the two, and Colorado's citizens haven't seen fit to raise enough of a stink about it that the legislature feels any reason to look into fixing it.

I'd be open to hearing other ideas or points of view, but I think the appropriate method, in the absence of the necessary legislative spine, is to fix the current state of things with a citizen ballot initiative.

This bud's for you:

It's a conspiracy all right but, not by coors. Incompentent Legislators are responsible for it. It was the product of their inability to unconfuse themselves concerning the absurdity they allowed to obfuscate the wrongheaded contention that what nobody could understand about what the idiot religious zealots, agenda driven politicians and mercantile interests could not agree on. about.

well becca you missed to boat on the conservative part of the ban. the power house dums of the state shot this down because of the hard ship it would put on the little guy not getting a day off on sunday.
oh and yes lets do more constitutional admends for liquor sales. so far all of them have worked out so well that we really dont need any politicians here as they can get their work done for them at the ballot box.

6:31, the "problem" is that silly "blue laws" aren't posted on the state border signs as you drive in on a Saturday night, hauling a trailer from California knowing you've been invited by a new co-worker to a dinner party the next night and assuming you'll be able to grab a bottle of Merlot on the way to the party. Oops, joke's on you; no Merlot to be found on a Sunday.

Oh, and how about the surprise visit from a friend on a Sunday. Can't run out to Safeway for some steaks and a six-pack.

You see, most of us don't keep a fully stocked bar at all times. Some of us buy what we need when we need it. Sure, I can keep some meat in the freezer and potatoes in the pantry. But I must plan ahead in case I'll feel the need in a couple of days for a beef burgundy dinner.

Beer and wine are perfectly legal substances, available for purchase only six days out of the week? And we won't even get into car shopping on your only day off this week -- oh, rats, it's Sunday.

By the way, there are no lack of liquor stores in, say, California, where a bottle of Jack can also be found at your local Safeway.

6:31, the "problem" is that silly "blue laws" aren't posted on the state border signs as you drive in on a Saturday night, hauling a trailer from California knowing you've been invited by a new co-worker to a "welcome to town" dinner party the next night and assuming you'll be able to grab a bottle of Merlot on the way to the party. Oops, joke's on you; no Merlot to be found on a Sunday.

Oh, and how about the surprise visit from a friend on a Sunday. Can't run out to Safeway for some steaks and a six-pack.

You see, most of us don't keep a fully stocked bar at all times. Some of us buy what we need when we need it. Sure, I can keep some meat in the freezer and potatoes in the pantry. But I must plan ahead in case I'll feel the need in a couple of days for a beef burgundy dinner.

Beer and wine are perfectly legal substances, available for purchase only six days out of the week? And we won't even get into car shopping on your only day off this week -- oh, rats, it's Sunday.

By the way, there are no lack of liquor stores in, say, California, where a bottle of Jack can also be found at your local Safeway.

Let the market decide. Get rid of the silly blue laws for both cars and booze. Sounds like a good idea to me.

This law is a real example of the "nanny state" or "nanny mentality" and no one pointed that out. Here is a law that keeps people from doing something that neither bothers others, like second hand smoke, nor hurts the participant. Buying liquor doesn`t hurt you.

All the blue laws that are religious in nature and should go.

I am sure the liberals would raise all kinds of heck if we had honest competition because they don't believe in competition, they want the government to run everything.

I think these blue laws are dumb, too - however, I wonder if allowing liquor store sales on Sundays might hurt Sunday business at bars and restaurants?

Just curious. Allen C., what do you think?

To all the idiots spouting off about how everything is "the liberals' fault" -- get a friggin' clue.

It's you Bible-thumping religious Right-wing Republican morons who want to bring back prohibition.

Liberals want more freedom -- not less. Hell, we want to legalize pot. It's not nearly as harmful or intoxicating as alcohol -- but the right-wingers keep screaming "gateway drug" from the rooftops -- although nothing could be further from the truth.

Leave it to a conservative to commit the sin and blame everyone else. They do it again and again.

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