BALTIMORE — If it doesn't work the first time, try, try, try again.
Advocates of a bill that would allow beer and wine sales at grocery stores announced Thursday they'll be doing just that, after efforts fizzled out in Annapolis last session.
Maryland is one of four states that limits the sale of alcohol to liquor stores. This time last year, Governor Moore was a strong advocate to change the rules.
Efforts to expand wine and beer sales in grocery stores renewed after last session's fizzled out
“I’m looking forward to working with the general assembly and getting something to my desk this session,” Moore said last December.
The bills in both the house and senate did not make it past committee.
The Maryland Consumer Freedom Coalition, behind the renewed efforts, states the majority of Marylanders support the change.
A Maryland NOW survey of 1,256 voters published in August 2025 asked people their opinion on “[a]llowing beer and wine sales in grocery stores, like most states.”
59% chose the “strongly supported” response and 22% chose the “partly supported” option.
The Maryland Retailers Alliance argues grocery stores operate at razor thin profit margins and every bit counts.
“Every time a Maryland family crosses that border to shop, we don't just lose their beer and wine sale, we lose their entire grocery basket. We lose sales tax revenue. We lose spending that should be supporting Maryland jobs and Maryland communities,” president Cailey Locklair said.
“Their main hubs are out of state, so the money is not staying in Maryland if they're being bought through corporations, and I think they see it as just sort of an untapped market for them,” worker-owner of The Wine Source Caitlin O’Connor said.
The news is once again unwelcome for mom and pop shops, like The Wine Source in Hampden, who strongly opposed efforts earlier this year.
They believe the price of the convenience promised by the legislation, would come at too high a cost for their profit margins.
“We do think it would be pretty devastating to our business and maybe even catastrophic,” O’Connor said.
“There would be places like this where we're not sure that we could stay open. We're not sure that we could keep all our employees here, and that would be true for every store in the city, in the state."
Advocates for the bill say they're considering distance regulations and that no new liquor licenses would be created to accommodate the change. They also pointed to a few examples of grocery stores that have been grandfathered in, such as Eddies of Roland Park, Royal Farms on Keswick Rd. and a Giant in Montgomery County.
“I understand their concern, but at the end of the day, the data shows and the evidence shows that the two stores can balance out and compete fairly,” sponsor of the bill Delegate Marlon Amprey (D) District 40 said.
The effort continues to have the governor’s support.
"Governor Moore remains committed to advancing fair competition and consumer choice across our state. Like the vast majority of Marylanders across political parties and regions, he supports lifting Maryland's ban on beer and wine sales in grocery stores. The governor looks forward to working with the General Assembly to bring Maryland in line with more than 40 other states that have successfully implemented this commonsense reform."
O’Connor says last time around, many small businesses that would be affected by the bill banded together. She hopes they’ll be able to tap into that again, to put a cork in the effort for good.
“We felt like that was a really good showing last year and if that's what we have to do again this year we're certainly up for the fight,” she said.
Session begins January 14th.