Wine available in grocery stores next week

Wine bottles are displayed at Imbibe Chattanooga, a wine-focused liquor store, on Wednesday, May 25, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Beginning July 1, Tennessee grocery stores will be allowed to sell wine, but they will not be able to buy in bulk the way liquor stores can.
Wine bottles are displayed at Imbibe Chattanooga, a wine-focused liquor store, on Wednesday, May 25, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Beginning July 1, Tennessee grocery stores will be allowed to sell wine, but they will not be able to buy in bulk the way liquor stores can.

The next time you're out picking up a load of groceries, don't forget to pick up a bottle of Merlot, too.

Starting on July 1, almost all of Chattanooga's grocery stores will be able to sell wine now that they've received final approval from the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

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According to a release from the commission, as of Friday it had approved 422 stores across the state - 73 percent of all that applied.

In the Scenic City, the list of licensed retailers includes Food City, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Earth Fare, Publix, Whole Foods and Fresh Market.

One notable exception to the group is Aldi, a discount grocer with locations in Hixson, Brainerd and Fort Oglethorpe. A spokeswoman for the TABC said they only received applications from Aldi this week and those requests still needed to be processed.

Clayton Byrd, executive director at the TABC, said, "We have made tremendous progress in reviewing and processing applications from hundreds of stores as we move toward the July 1 rollout."

Food City alone has received wine licenses for 69 of the chain's stores in Tennessee, more than a sixth of all grocery stores licensed this year

Steven Smith, the president and CEO of Food City said, "We are excited to be able to provide a much requested product to our consumers and look forward to working with the new Commission Director, Clay Byrd and his staff to refine this process even further."

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