DENVER, CO - Colorado grocery stores looking to sell liquor will have to buy out two liquor stores under a revised bill that passed out of Colorado??s House Business Affairs and Labor Committee earlier this week, the Denver Business Journal reports.

The original proposal would have allowed a grocery store to purchase the liquor license of just one liquor store to begin selling alcohol beyond the reduced-strength beer that Colorado grocers are now permitted to sell. However, the bill was amended to require that the grocers purchase two licenses -- one from a store within 1,500 feet of the grocery store and one from anywhere else within the city where the grocer is located.

Currently, Colorado has 1,600 independent liquor stores and 300 grocery stores that can sell reduced-strength beer.

The bill is narrowly structured and allows only grocery stores that also have pharmacies and that derive at least 51 percent of their revenue from food sales to apply for the "liquor-licensed drugstore license." That language would exclude grocers who derive the majority of their revenue from non-food items, such as Target, Wal-Mart, and grocers without pharmacies such as Whole Foods.

Opponents argue that grocery chains could use their purchasing power to keep prices lower and give them an unfair advantage over locally owned liquor stores. Proponents counter that the measure will level the playing field that was disrupted in 2008, when Colorado??s lawmakers allowed liquor stores to open on Sunday, which they said eliminated the market for reduced-strength beer that they traditionally sold on that day.

House Bill 1279 now heads to Colorado's House Finance Committee, which killed a bill earlier this session that would have allowed convenience stores to sell full-strength beer.