To the editor:
July 1, 2016 was a banner day for Food City and the rest of Tennessee’s grocery industry. After an almost 10-year effort to change the state’s alcohol laws, we were finally allowed to sell wine to our customers along with their food purchases, a convenience enjoyed by shoppers in 30 other states. Our customers’ enthusiasm for wine was abundantly evident that first day — a Friday — and on into the next.
Then came Sunday, July 3. Shoppers brought wine to the checkout with as much excitement as the previous two days. However, our cashiers had to deliver the unfortunate news that state law prohibits the sale of wine on Sundays. The next day — July 4 — brought the same disappointment, as the law also prohibits wine sales on Independence Day and four other holidays throughout the year.
The secret behind the success of Food City or any grocery store is to give the customer what they want. So when our customers told us they wanted to be able to buy wine where they buy their food, our industry worked extremely hard to change the law to allow that to happen.
Today our customers are telling us that they want to be able to purchase wine when they buy their food. An increasing number of Tennesseans are doing their grocery shopping on Sundays. As our lives have gotten busier our schedules have changed, but Tennessee’s obsolete blue laws have not kept up the pace. The prohibition of Sunday wine sales makes no sense to our customers, especially when they see beer for sale right across the aisle. This antiquated state law is causing increased dissatisfaction among customers throughout the state, many of whom are crossing state lines to make their Sunday wine purchases.
The Tennessee General Assembly is currently considering legislation to modernize hours of service for alcohol. House Bill 758 would align sales of wine and spirits with each community’s established hours of sales for beer. This would permit liquor stores to be open during Sunday beer sales hours, which would thus allow us to sell wine during the same hours.
We already know what our customers want, and we hope our lawmakers will give us the opportunity to comply with their demands. If you would like to be offered the convenience of purchasing wine and spirits seven days a week, I urge you to contact your state legislators at www.capitol.tn.gov.

Respectfully
John Jones
Food City Executive Vice President/Director of Store Operations and Chairman of Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association