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Colorado voters will decide whether to allow wine sales in grocery stores as booze battle heads to November ballot

Voters will also decide whether to allow third-party alcohol delivery and if retail liquor stores can open an unlimited number of Colorado locations

Jesse Paul
Colorado Sun

Colorado voters will have a chance in November to weigh in on the state’s long-running alcohol-policy war.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office announced Friday that three ballot measures that would change booze policy in the state — including one that would let grocery stores sell wine — have qualified for the November ballot after their supporters collected a sufficient number of voter signatures. 

The following measures qualified: 



  • Initiative 96, which would open the door for liquor retailers to be able to open an unlimited number of stores in Colorado starting in 2037.
  • Initiative 121, which would let retailers who have a license to sell beer, such as grocery stores, also sell wine.  
  • Initiative 122, which would let third-party services deliver alcohol. 

A fourth alcohol-policy measure, Initiative 135, which would have required local approval for liquor license changes in an effort to slow down grocery stores’ ability to begin selling wine in addition to beer, failed to make the ballot after its supporters didn’t turn in the signatures they had collected.

Read more at ColoradoSun.com.


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