WICHITA, KS €" New legislation introduced in Kansas would allow grocery stores and convenience stores to sell full-strength beer, liquor and wine, KSN.com reports.
The state€™s current law only allows those stores to sell beer with a 3.2 percent alcohol rate. However, a group called Coalition for Jobs and Consumer Choice released a study that shows allowing the sale of full-strength beer, wine and spirits in grocery stores could generate 15,000 jobs and $72 million in state and local tax revenue. It will be testifying as such on February 1 and 2 before a state committee that is considering the issue.
Liquor store retailers oppose modifying the current law, saying it would run them out of business.
"We can't compete with the big money," said Lesa Dixon, owner of L.C. Retail Liquor in Douglas.
Lobbyists for the bill concede that as many as half of the state's 766 liquor stores could close, costing 1,100 store jobs. However, they counter that grocery and convenience stores would more than compensate for those losses, as they would then hire 13,000 new employees.
Similar bills have been debated in Kansas nearly every year since 1988, though they have failed out of concern for the impact on liquor stores as well as the effect it would have on making alcohol too available in the state.