CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A bill that would let convenience and grocery stores stock wine has been halted in the General Assembly, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.

“We’ve had many new people move into our state over the last 10-year period,” said the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Bill Ketron. “They come from states that currently have wine in grocery stores. They want to be able to go in and buy a bottle of wine.”

However, Ketron thinks that lawmakers, most of whom face re-election in the fall, do not want to be perceived as pro-alcohol. “I don’t feel the votes are there to move it forward,” he said. Ketron will reintroduce the bill early next year.

Wholesalers and liquor stores fought the bill by saying it would cause small businesses to close. “When you explain it to people from the small business standpoint and putting your neighbor out of business, it changes people’s minds,” said Trey White, president of Athens Distributing Co. of Tennessee.

However, Jarron Springer, president of the Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association, believes that competition is healthy. “The grocery industry is very competitive,” he said. “We think competition’s good for the consumers.”

But all is not completely lost this year because both sides could reach an agreement that would let localities hold referendums on food stores selling wine, rather than enacting a statewide law. That proposal “would make sense and would allow that area to decide for itself,” said Springer.

Currently, 33 states allow grocery and convenience stores to sell wine, including Georgia and four other bordering states.