I am a supporter of beer and wine sales but not in grocery stores (“A toast to compromise in grocery beer and wine battle,” Jan. 30). I have lived in areas and states where groceries are allowed to sell beer and wine. Not one allowed “choice” other than what management got from their warehouses. Your choice was to “take it or leave it.”
I deal with a couple wine and beer stores that make an effort to obtain items they don’t ordinarily stock for me. Try getting that from a chain grocery store. Groceries have a standard list that headquarters or their warehouses supply. Even if a grocery has a beer and wine department, you have no chance if it isn’t something they normally stock. If they don’t think their customers will buy enough to make it worth their effort, too bad.
A small independent beer and wine store will be more helpful because they actually want your continuing business. You can get “Budweiser” at almost any out-of-state grocery that sells beer, but try getting something distinctive — and the odds are you won’t — at a major supermarket.
— Richard Oden, Baltimore
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