A local Tennessee lawmaker is hoping other legislators will get on board with his bill to make wine available at grocery stores. State Representative Jon Lundberg believes the state is missing out on sales to bordering states. Lundberg wants to change the current law, to allow wine to be sold in grocery stores. Proponents say grocery store sales could also bring 3,500 new jobs to the state.
Phil Scharfstein owns one stop wine and liquor store on South Roan in Johnson City. He says he has ten employees and if the law is passed, he could potentially have to lay off three or four because business would inevitably go downhill.
"We are one of the largest retailers in upper East Tennessee. A tremendous amount of our business is with wines. So if we don't have the wine going out the door there really is no need for me to have that kind of staff."
One Stop employee Cammie Kirkland has worked for Scharfstein for eight years. She has a family to help support and says its scary thinking that she could potentially lose her job.
Kirkland says, "At this point, this is where we work, we come here everyday. The fact that you might not have a job one day, that's scary for anybody."
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