Wholesale giant Costco has joined Wal-Mart and other retailers in the fight to let public corporations sell liquor in Texas.
Texans for Consumer Freedom, a group formed last month to lobby Texas lawmakers to loosen restrictions on the state liquor market, announced Wednesday that Costco Wholesale Corporation would lend its name to the effort.
“We are glad to be joined by Costco in our efforts to level the playing field for the retail sale of spirits so Texas consumers receive the choice, convenience and lower prices competition provides,” Travis Thomas, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement.
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“Costco proudly stands with Texans for Consumer Freedom in its efforts to eliminate the unusual Texas spirits laws that artificially restrict competition and prevent us from directly serving our over 1.3 million Texas members,” Executive Vice President Dennis Zook said in a statement.
See here, here, and here for the background. Kroger and the Texas Association of Business were already in with Wal-Mart, and the Texas Package Stores Association – basically, the existing liquor stores – stands in opposition. My impression is that the bills in question will have a decent chance of passing, but we’ll see.
The “Texas Package Store Association” is using the force of government to keep out the competition. Anybody that cares to open a liquor store should be able to do so. Is any other business type restricted like this? Oh, sorry, we limit the amount of restaurants to just our group. You can’t open one, and if you try, we will get the State of Texas to shut you down.
I’m glad this issue is coming to light. It just shows how much still stinks in our supposedly “pro-business” state. Yeah, we are pro-business….as long as your business is connected.
I’m sure the state employees charged with keeping new people out of the liquor business feel like hired guns of the club.