Chris Carran, owner of Locals Liquors in Silverthorne, emerged as a leading voice in the efforts to nix the 2022 ballot initiative to allow wine to be sold in grocery and convenience stores. Shortly after the initiative took effect, Carran warned about possible major impacts on local liquor stores as they faced disadvantages compared to larger competitors.

Despite the efforts of Carran, other liquor store owners, and their supporters to stop this initiative — and while a slim majority of Summit County voters voted against the measure — it narrowly passed statewide. Starting March 1, grocery stores and convenience stores were able to sell wine if they already had a license to sell beer. 

Carran and other liquor store owners braced themselves for what was to come. 

Nearly eight months later, these owners said the results have been about as bad as they expected them to be. Major store chains took away some of their business and began to offer prices they just couldn’t compete with. 

“We knew that there would be a large decrease in our wine business,” Carran said. “Some of the things that we thought would happen, have happened because of the predatory practices of large chains.”

Local liquor stores simply cannot match some of the grocery stores prices without risking being able to keep themselves afloat and pay employees livable wages said Carran. 

Unlike many local liquor stores, grocery stores sell loads of other products aside from food and alcohol. Because of this, they can still lower the price on some items and meet their margins, potentially by raising prices on other items. 

“I don’t have many other products that I can raise the price on to cover that margin,” Carran said. “They’re raising the price on peanut butter, milk, eggs, things that are necessities.”

While Locals Liquors took a hit to its wine sales, beer sales have leveled out. She said she thinks that being a liquor that is not in close proximity to a grocery store puts them in a better position than those that are. 

Dillon Ridge Liquors is right near the Dillon City Market. Owner Mike Smith said the store has seen a decrease in sales for both craft beer and wine. 

“I had a pretty aggressive mindset of how it was going to affect us. I would say what’s happening has probably been equal to what I expected,” Smith said. 

Smith said he has heard about liquor stores taking similar hits across Colorado. Whether on the Western Slope, the Front Range or the eastern plains, he says liquor stores are feeling the impacts of Proposition 125.  

“Statewide, I’ve heard numbers from distributors that have been anywhere from 30% to 50% of an impact on business,” Smith said.

He noted that those numbers came through word of mouth and not from concrete evidence.

Staff at City Liquors in Breckenridge, which is located next to the Breckenridge City Market, said they have seen the impacts first hand.

Rob Hayden, a longtime employee of City Liquors, said he has seen wine sales “tank” ever since the initiative passed. 

He added that the shop is grateful to have a strong base of locals that continuously support them. Still, he said he’s noticed more tourists who are unfamiliar with the area are now gravitating towards buying alcohol at City Market instead.  

The store has other offerings that have been helping keep it afloat. 

“We are allowed to sell liquor and I think that’s really one of the only things that’s kind of been keeping our store going,” Hayden said. 

All the liquore store owners emphasized how supporting local liquor stores, expands to help support other parts of the local economy. 

“We employ local services, local information technology, local accounting … we support local producers, we support local distributors ,” said Carran. “Staying on a local basis doesn’t make our carbon footprint as huge.”

Smith said his store has always made an active effort to support the community.

“We’ve done many fundraisers for the Summit Community Care Clinic in addition to sponsoring many organizations,” Smith said. “We try to support the community in many ways.”

Smith and Carran also noted that patrons cannot get the same customer service experience at a grocery story that they can at a local liquor store. Both said their staff maintains a solid knowledge of the products on their shelves and can help guide customers find exactly what they are looking for.