Over the weekend one of our staff members captured this photo at a Kroger store in the North Little Rock area. It shows the expanded wine selection the store now sells under a law the Arkansas Legislature passed last spring.
According to our staff member, this section of the store “was all baby food and diapers, from one end down the other” before Kroger converted it into a wine section.
Why Does This Matter?
Many are concerned that this could set the stage for legislation down the road letting grocery stores in Arkansas sell hard liquor the way grocery stores in states like Missouri do.
Prior to this year, grocery stores in wet counties were generally limited to selling a few wines produced by small farms in Arkansas. Act 508 of 2017 lets grocery stores sell wines from other states, like California.
Last spring we said Act 508 would simply mean more alcohol in stores where children and families shop. It appears that prediction has come true.
