Retailer Seeks Overhaul of Wash. Liquor Sales System

Washington voters will be asked this fall whether private companies should be allowed to sell liquor, part of a ballot initiative driven by big-box retailer Costco.

The Wall Street Journal reported June 18 that Costco wants to be able to sell liquor in its stores, but Washington currently restricts such sales to state stores, although beer and wine can be sold in grocery stores and elsewhere. 

Costco contributed more than half a million dollars to the campaign run by a group called Modernize Washington and had its employees collect ballot signatures from customers. 

Alcohol distributors, however, oppose the reform plan: Costco wants to be able to buy alcoholic beverages in bulk and pass savings on to customers, but that would eliminate distributors as middlemen. The Washington ballot question would clear the way for such bulk purchases by rewriting the state rules that set up a three-tiered alcohol distribution system after Prohibition.