The wait is over. Starting on Friday, you can buy wine with your milk and eggs at many Tennessee grocery stores.
The long-anticipated wine in grocery stores law takes effect July 1, and hundreds of retailers across the state started selling vino at 8 a.m.
Here’s five things you should know:
Where can you buy wine?
More than 570 retailers located in municipalities that allow bars or liquor stores have applied to sell wine. As of Friday, 431 of those had received conditional letters of approval or official licenses to sell wine July 1, and many of those stores are already stocked and ready to go. Wal-Mart, Kroger, Publix, Food Lion, Trader Joe’s, Sam's Club, Costco, Food City, Fresh Market and Whole Foods are among the major retailers planning to sell wine.
If grocers submitted applications late or were missing paperwork there could be a delay in receiving a license.
When can you buy wine?
Under the law, wine sales at grocery stores must adhere to the same hours as liquor retailers. That means you can buy wine between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and not on Sundays. Wine sales are not permitted on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, New Year's Day and the Fourth of July.
Is there a markup?
Like liquor retailers, grocery stores must sell wine at a minimum of 20 percent above the cost found on a wholesale invoice.
Wine must be ordered on a store-by-store basis to keep major retailers such as Kroger or Wal-Mart from receiving wholesale discounts not available to small liquor businesses.
What does this mean for liquor stores?
It remains to be seen how the wine in grocery stores law will impact liquor retailers, many which fear the legislation could hurt their bottom line. As a concession, the law allowed liquor retailers in 2014 to begin selling beer, food products, party supplies, cigarettes and other items they weren’t permitted to sell previously.
Liquor store owners are limited to two stores in the state after controversial legislation passed this year. The cap keeps major out-of-state liquor retailers, such as Maryland-based Total Wine & More, from expanding across the state.
Can you drink wine inside grocery stores?
Some grocery stores might open wine bars after a separate law passed earlier this year to allow grocers to serve wine within a designated area so long as it is inside the store.