During the 2024 session, Delegate Marlon Amprey was the first elected official to propose legislation that would make wine and beer available in grocery shops.
Amprey is optimistic that this year will be different, despite the fact that the measure did not pass both chambers of Congress and become law.
It is not just him who is optimistic about it; there are others as well.
“Oh I’m so excited about it I hope everything works out because it would be wonderful to go in the market and be able to get beer and wine,” Gladys Wilder stated.
Instead of having to go from one location to another while shopping, Gladys Wilder believes that it would be beneficial to have a greater number of locations where one could get those beverages.
“Well be happy if we can just get everything out of the store at once where we won’t have to just go to the market and then go somewhere else and plus it will be much safer like that you go to one place and then you will be able to go home,” she stated.
In order to gain a better understanding of the law and amprey’s motivations for submitting it, I had a meeting with him.
“The goal of any bill of mine is always going to be equity so I wanted to think through how can we provide some equity with adding beer and wine in grocery stores,” Delegate Amprey stated.
According to him, one method of achieving this fairness would be to impose a little convenience tax on the sale of beer and wine in retail establishments.
This would allow the state to set aside funds to assist in the construction of additional grocery shops in regions that are considered to be food deserts.
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Another one of his goals is to increase the visibility of the local breweries.
“We’re going to make sure that a percentage of all beer and wine sold in grocery stores across the state of Maryland are going to have to have beer and wine produced here in the state of Maryland,” Amprey stated.
According to him, the presence of local beer and wine at the stores will assist local businesses such as Guilford Hall Brewery and Union Craft Brewing in gaining more visibility and eventually selling their products in countries other than the United States.
“I can’t wait to walk into a store in California or in Texas when I’m on vacation and see a beer made in the 40th district right, right now its really hard for them to do that. they have to compete with all of these big manufacturers,” according to Amprey.
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As of December, Wmar have conversations with proprietors of liquor stores who are dissatisfied with this measure and are concerned that it will be detrimental to the small business liquor stores.
“I’ve heard the concerns from our smaller beer, wine and liquor stores and I understand their concerns but we already have some grandfathered stores here that already sell beer wine and liquor,” Marlon Amprey stated.