Grocery stores across Tennessee will start selling wine next summer, but the looming competition hasn't scared off a group of relatives who hope to buy an East Brainerd liquor store that's a stone's throw from a Food City supermarket.
Liquor stores will remain the only place in Tennessee to buy hard liquor, said Saurin Patel, the spokesman for Nayana Corp. It has applied to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission for the license to take over East Brainerd Wine & Spirits at 7804 E. Brainerd Road that's near a former Super Bi-Lo supermarket, now Food City.
"All the liquor stores will get hurt. But one thing [the state] did is just allowed only the wine portion - not everything," Patel said.
Still, buying a liquor store in Tennessee now is a gamble, he said.
"Yeah, it is for now," Patel said. "We'll see what happens after the wine sales start in the grocery stores."
The Nayana Corp. consists of Saurin Patel, who owns the RaceWay gas station on Highway 153 in Hixson, his cousins Harsh Patel and Arjun Patel, and a business partner, also named Arjun Patel. The various partners own gas stations in Cleveland, Tenn., Saurin Patel said, and Harsh Patel runs a liquor store in Etowah, Tenn.
East Brainerd Wine & Spirits' owner, Robert Cox, is ready to sell.
Cox said he isn't worried about the potential impact grocery store wine sales will have on liquor stores. He just wants to scale back and work less.
"After 24 years of working 90 hours a week, it's time," Cox said. "No vacations. No days off. So it's time. I'll probably get a normal job and work 40 hours a week.
Cox stressed that, "It hasn't sold, yet."
The Nayana Corp. still needs to clear hurdles at the city of Chattanooga and the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The proposed sale of East Brainerd Wine & Spirits is on the Chattanooga City Council's agenda tonight.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetfor business or 423-757-6651.