Bravo to Wiltonians for Voting Against Beer Sales in Wilton Grocery Stores

Wiltonians voted today against the sale of beer in Wilton grocery stores. According to official election results, the initiative was defeated 1,525 to 1,153! Voter turnout was low, with 2,678 residents voting. That's just over 24% of registered voters.

In my eyes, this issue was really a battle against Ancona Wines and Liquors, a local company that has been part of the community for almost 90 years, by retail food giant Stop 'n' Shop, a foreign owned company. Stop 'n' Shop is owned by Ahold (in full Koninklijke Ahold N.V.), a major international supermarket operator based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

It was Wilton's Stop 'n' Shop that initiated a petition to allow the beer sales question to appear on the ballot. For weeks, shoppers were encouraged to sign the petition in the name of "customer convenience." The petition was signed by 1,185 of the town's 11,006 registered voters.

To further encourage voters to allow Stop 'n' Shop to encroach on Ancona's and other local retailer's beer sales, the food giant took out a full page ad in the Wilton Villager and did a mailing to every Wilton resident encouraging a vote for beer sales in "grocery" stores in the name of "customer convenience."

It is refreshing to see that Wiltonians chose to block the Stop 'n' Shop initiative and allow our local merchants to continue with their good service and fair prices.

Citizens of Wilton would have gained absolutely nothing by permitting the sale of beer in Stop 'n' Shop and the two other food markets within Wilton's borders.

The last thing we need is to hurt our local merchants in these economically troubled times.