Rep. Curry Todd, as promised, pulled a bill that would allow grocery stores to stock up on wine ahead of the July 1 go-date for selling wine if the bill was amended to remove the two-store cap on liquor store ownership:

Todd said the cap was meant to protect mom-and-pop stores, but opponents argued that the free market should decide winners and losers.

Rep. David Alexander, R-Winchester, noted that in his private retail business he must compete to succeed.

"I have no protections whatsoever in the free market, except how hard I work and how good a job I do," he said "What's all this protectionism? I don't like that. I like that free market."

The effort to remove the package store cap from the bill was approved on a 10-9 vote, and Todd promptly withdrew the measure from consideration.

The main aim of the bill was to allow grocery stores to begin taking deliveries to be ready for a new law allowing wine sales starting July 1.

The failure of the bill doesn't mean that supermarkets will not be able to sell wine, but it could take a few weeks for them to be supplied by wholesalers.



