Liquor Store Owners See Fears Realized with ShopRite License

Vishnu Reddy can look out the front windows of his family’s liquor store, Wine Legend, and see one grocery store that’s already become a major competitor in the beer and wine business.

In a few months, he’ll have another big competitor another mile up Route 70—and one with another edge in convenience, after the Ravitz family bought Cherry Hill’s latest liquor license and announced plans to open a liquor store within ShopRite of Garden State Pavilions.

It’s the doomsday scenario for his business, as he said when the township council passed an ordinance allowing sales inside large retailers, and a quiet Reddy stuck to that position after hearing the news another supermarket was getting into the business.

“I’ve said what I had to say,” he said. “There’s nothing new.”

Like other liquor store owners in the township, Reddy warned the council of the potential imbalance created by allowing booze inside a grocery or big-box store and the consequences for small business owners.

“We’re going to lose customers—we’ve already lost customers because of our immediate competition, which is Wegmans,” Reddy told the council in February. “Right now, we are breaking even…it will be very hard for us, and you’re going to have an empty building next year.”

But beyond issues like imbalanced competition and property taxes, other owners raised concerns about what putting liquor sales alongside groceries could do.

“I just hope they can control the sale to minors,” said Mario DelMonte, who runs Kress Wine at Berlin and Kresson roads. “Their main thing is selling diapers and apples and canned goods.”

The ShopRite license and planned store-within-a-store could set a precedent for the township, as well, DelMonte said, with the potential for larger retailers, like Target or other major chains, moving in to try to buy up other licenses.

While that might be good for convenience’s sake, DelMonte said service and selection wouldn’t be top priorities for companies selling liquor as a side business.

And what might be bad for consumers would be terrible for local businesses, he said.

“It would crush us little guys,” DelMonte said.