Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
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www.beveragedynamics.com didn't write the laws; we only live by them. For the last 80 years, we played by the rules." Wilbur's Total Beverage general manager Matt Dinsmore is the president of Coloradans for SAFETY, an allied coalition of independent liquor store owners, and treasurer of the American Beverage Licensees in Washington, D.C. He spent 18 months raising money to prevent "80 years of liquor laws being turned upside down." "We all sat down with the threat of a ballot issue over our heads," he says. "If we went to a ballot issue, it would be 50/50 coin fl ip." He says Wal-Mart's polling showed 50/50, too: "They said, 'If we lose and we spend this kind of money, we're going to lose jobs.'" SB197 is far from perfect, Dinsmore adds, "and we spent a lot of time cleaning up fl aws—but it works." He says the law protected the local liquor-store owner who happens to be right next to a Safeway from having Safeway quickly put them out of business. It also created value for some businesses, he adds, because a lot of them don't have a succession plan. The com- promise allowed local independent retailers who wanted to stay in business to stay in business; alternatively, it gave an exit strategy for those who wanted out. "It saved, truly, about 1,600 small businesses from their head get- ting cut off overnight," Dinsmore says. The state's evolving liquor laws have kept these stores on their toes in terms of differentiating themselves among vast competition and creating a shopping experience they say grocers can't replicate. Mat Dinsmore, GM of Wilbur's in Fort Collins.caption here by the rules." Wilbur's Total Beverage general manager Matt Dinsmore is the president of Coloradans for SAFETY, an allied coalition of independent liquor store owners, and treasurer of the American Beverage Licensees in Washington, D.C. He spent 18 months raising money to prevent "80 22 Beverage Dynamics • July/August 2017