Lizzy Alfs

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

One of the largest wine retailers in the country is bringing its expansive collection of bottles to the Nashville area this year.

Maryland-based Total Wine & More has deals to open stores in West Nashville and at Cool Springs Pointe in Cool Springs, said Edward Cooper, vice president of public affairs and community relations for Total Wine & More. The stores, which cost $1 million to $2 million to build out, are slated to open sometime in 2016.

The company hopes to eventually open eight to 10 stores across Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis.

Total Wine & More stores are 20,000 to 30,000 square feet with wide aisles and shopping carts. Each store sells 8,000 wines, 3,000 spirits and 2,700 beers. The stores also have wine education centers used for training, classes, events and virtual tastings with producers from around the world.

Cooper said the company strives to be a “price leader,” stocking wines ranging from $3 to $10,000. The average customer ticket is more than $60, he said.

Push to cap liquor store licenses stalls

Each store employs 40 to 50 people and wine department employees undergo 150 hours of initial education training to ensure quality service, Cooper said.

Founded in 1991, Total Wine operates 130 locations in 18 states. The privately-owned company — which attributes 60 percent of its sales to wine — raked in $2 billion in revenue in 2015, up from $1.75 billion the previous year, Cooper said.

Total Wine & More’s first expansion into Tennessee was made possible after the 2014 wine-in-grocery stores bill lifted a previous license cap on liquor businesses. Lifting the cap was considered a concession to liquor retailers that would be faced with new competition from grocery stores.

Cooper said the company started looking for real estate after the bill passed.

But the company's expansion plans were threatened recently by a new bill that would reinstate a two-license limit on liquor purveyors. The cap was one provision of a broader bill designed to allow grocers to prepare for the wine-in-grocery stores law by pre-ordering wine before its July 1 enactment.

Nashville grocers count days until wine sales

The bill stalled in the state legislature this week after the House Finance Committee voted to strike the controversial two-license provision. Bill sponsor Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, then withdrew the bill following the vote.

Pushback from Todd's decision to take the bill off the committee calendar could force the Collierville Republican to change his mind and bring the bill back up for a vote

Cooper told The Tennessean this week the company is preparing a legal case should the bill with the two-license cap move forward. Cooper met with legislators to lobby against the cap prior to Tuesday’s vote in the House Finance Committee.

Reach Lizzy Alfs at 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.