Check out this brief from Sunday's Post:

Wine at grocers

Proponents of expanding liquor sales in Colorado are quietly working on a measure that would allow the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores. The proposal would let King Soopers, Safeway and other grocers with pharmacies and a certain percentage of revenues from meat and fresh produce sell the beverages. The plan would not include big discounters like Wal- Mart.

The proposal would not impinge on the state's Blue Laws, which prohibit the sale of liquor on Sundays. Grocers could not ring up liquor sales on that day.

Not surprisingly, many liquor merchants oppose the idea. Scott Robinson, owner of Argonaut Liquors, Denver's largest liquor retailer, said that while his store will surely survive, many mom-and- pop operations could be forced out of business. Proponents are not rushing to introduce the bill. This year might be devoted to "gauging interest," they said.

I've had two recent experiences that tell me that I don't give a crap about Robinson's complaints. The first is my search for Dogfish Head 120 IPA. I didn't do a really good job looking for this beer, but I do know that I couldn't get it at any of the "mom-and-pop operations" near my house. In the end it came from Merchant of Vino, which coincidentally is owned by Whole Foods.   

The second is Trader Joes. I travel to California every month or so and each trip I stop at Trader Joes and bring back some goodies. I usually get a few bottles of Two Buck Chuck, ($1.99/bottle Charles Shaw) but this time I brought back some decent Trader Joe's blended Scotch ($9.99).

Someone told me that Trader Joes won't come to Colorado becasue they can't sell booze in thier stores. Now if anyone has ever been to a Trader Joes, they would definitely want to see a couple of these stores come to Colorado. 

I do see a problem with this proposal. The article states that only grocery stores with pharmacies are going to be allowed to sell beer and wine. If I'm not mistaken, that would leave out Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and Trader Joes. Of all the stores, those are the ones that I would like to see sell beer and wine, because they are more likely to stock the more unique beers and wine. 

Although I think this is a good step in the right direction of getting rid of Colorado's lame Blue Laws. 

So if any of the people who are working on this bill read this, I have one question: Why are you just focusing on the stores with pharmacies? Oh and if you need any help with this proposal feel free to contact me.