A sign in a Kroger supermarket in Nashville urges shoppers to sign up for a group urging wine sales in grocery stores.NASHVILLE - Proponents of Tennessee grocery stores' ability to sell wine say they're gearing up for the Nov. 4 election where voters in Chattanooga, Signal Mountain and dozens of other communities will decide the issue on local referendums.
The effort will include paid media and in-store displays encouraging voters to say yes, said Suzie Alcorn, campaign manager of the Red, White and Food effort.
In a news release today, Alcorn said, "we are in the final stage to get wine in retail food stores. This summer, we collected more than 262,247 signatures, which led to 78 communities having the wine question on the November ballot."
Early voting begins Wednesday in the election.
Noting that "voters will have the final say on the purchase of wine in retail food stores," Alcorn said, "we are encouraging Tennesseans to vote for wine."
She's also making a pitch for volunteers in the 78 campaigns, noting they can contact the campaign at volunteer@redwhiteandfood.com.
"We are grateful to those Tennesseans who have supported the Red White and Food campaign," said Alcorn. "Tennesseans who want to purchase wine with their groceries have worked hard over seven years - to make this a reality, voters must vote for wine."
After a years' long battle in the state Legislature over the wine-in-grocery stores issue, lawmakers this year passed a compromise between retail food stores and liquor stores. It allowed liquor stores to begin selling beer and party supplies on July 1. In communities where the wine referendum passes, retail food stores will be able to sell wine beginning July 1, 2016, although Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey has said he wants to move that schedule up.