Queens lawmakers rescind support for
planned College Point mega liquor store
3
QUEENS WEEKLY, NOVEMBER 17, 2019
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Nearly 30 Queens elected
officials have rescinded
their support for a mega
wine and liquor store in
College Point, after learning
that the company is
allegedly a multi-billion
dollar retailer and not a local,
independently owned
business as they were led
to believe.
Thirty-six city, state and
federal lawmakers, including
28 from the borough,
said that the addition of
Total Wine & More would
threaten the livelihood of
mom and pop shops in the
area. Many of the officials
who initially supported
the proposal have walked
away after learning the
supposed truth about the
company.
In September, residents
got word that the State Liquor
Authority (SLA) was
considering an application
from 31-year-old Michelle
Trone, founder of Total
Wine & More and daughter
of Maryland Congressman
David Trone. The company’s
founder planned to
open a 30,000 square-foot
store at the site of a former
Toys ‘R’ Us at 30-02 Whitestone
Expwy.
Michelle Trone applied
to operate MCT New York
Fine Wines & Spirits LLC
as a separate entity from
all other stores operating
under the trade name
Total Wine & More. Many
local business owners in
the area feared that their
stores would succumb to
the megastore’s presence.
In a written statement
to QNS, Trone said that
the Metro Package Store
Association, “one of the
most powerful lobbying
groups in the state of New
York,” put pressure on the
lawmakers in question.
“My store is not a
multi-billion dollar retailer
— it is an independent,
woman-owned
business. New York state
law mandates that package
stores are operated as
independent businesses,
and entrepreneurs are
restricted to holding just
one off-premise license
to sell wine and distilled
spirits. My store will follow
this law. I will use the
trade name Total Wine &
More, but my store will
be operated independently
from other stores with
this name. I have applied
to the SLA for a license
in Queens that will be
operated by me and me
alone,” Trone said.
When she first rolled
out her proposal, Trone
assured owners and lawmakers
that consumers
would only visit her store
“three to six times a year
to stock up for an occasion,
parties, holidays or
an event.”
“I believe the community
in Queens needs both
of these types of stores.
There is also, historically,
looking at other Total
Wines before and after
they open, the number of
stores around it do not go
out of business,” Trone
said in September.
According to Trone,
the proposed store would
have WiFi, wines and spirits
educational content
and customer classes led
by industry experts. The
owner said that the shop
would bring about 175 jobs
to Queens, with 75 percent
of them being full-time positions
But critics of the plan
did not buy Trone’s reasoning
that the megastore
and smaller liquor stores
could coexist.
“Total Wine would be
a total disaster for small
businesses in western
Queens and I urge the
State Liquor Authority to
reject its application,” said
state Senator Michael Gianaris.
“I stand with small
business owners to fight
for a stronger community
and against further intrusions
from anti-competitive
businesses that prey
on our small businesses.”
Flushing Assemblyman
Ron Kim also doubled
down on his opposition
after initially supporting
Trone’s proposal. On Sept.
17, Kim joined Flushing
small business merchants
and the nonprofit Metropolitan
Package Store Association
(MetroPSA) in
urging the SLA to reject
plans to open the megastore.
“There are already
over 350 package stores in
Queens. Almost every one
of those stores is run by a
‘mom and pop’ owner who
lives in the same community
and operates right on
their main street. Every
one of those ‘mom and pop’
proprietors will have their
very existence threatened
by the arrival of big-box
wine,” Kim said.
On the day of the protest,
Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez
sent a letter to New York
State Liquor Authority
Chairman Vincent Bradley
raising concerns that
Total Wine has “access
to resources and economics
of scales with which
smaller retailers could not
compete.”
“Our small businesses
would not be able to compete
with such practices
and it would be devastating
to the largely immigrant
community that
is currently employed at
many of these stores,” Ocasio
Cortez wrote in the
letter.
According to the Metro
Package Store Association,
the megastore project
would carry a $10 million
bank loan “far in excess
of the means of a typical
young New York entrepreneur.”
Only startup
companies with “very significant”
backing from the
corporate financial world
could qualify for a loan of
that amount.
Liquor store owners
like Tone Sinclaire, owner
of The Wine Room in
Forest Hills, and Dennis
Hwang, whose family owns
a liquor store in Jamaica,
have spoken on the impact
that Total Wines would
have on smaller shops in
Queens.
“When we applied for
our license, the SLA asked
us the square footage of
the store, and they aren’t
giving us a license for a
10,000 square-feet store,
they aren’t going to give
us that. So how were they
Total Wine able to get a
30,000 square foot store
and receive a license?”
Sinclaire said.
“New York City is supposed
to be the land of opportunity
for everybody and
it’s going to hurt to get that
opportunity taken away in a
flash,” Hwang added.
Below is a complete list
of elected officials who
have come out against the
plan to open the College
Point store. Queens representatives
are marked with
an asterisk (*).
Senators
• Joseph P. Addabbo Jr.*
• Michael N. Gianaris*
• Todd Kaminsky
• John C. Liu*
• Jessica Ramos*
• James Sanders Jr.*
• Toby Ann Stavisky*
Assembly
Members
• Stacey Pheffer Amato*
• Jeffrion L. Aubry*
• Michael Benedetto
• Edward C. Braunstein*
• Vivian E. Cook*
• Catalina Cruz*
• Michael DenDekker*
• Andrew Hevesi*
• Ron Kim*
• Michael LiPetri
• David G. McDonough
• Melissa Miller
• Michael Miller*
• Michael Montesano
• Anthony H. Palumbo
• Andrew P. Raia
• Daniel Rosenthal*
• Aravella Simotas*
• Michele Titus*
• David I. Weprin*
• City Council Members
• Adrienne Adams*
• Costa Constantinides*
• Mark Gjonaj
• Robert F. Holden*
• Peter Koo*
• Rory I. Lancman*
• James Van Bramer*
Congress
Members
• Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez*
• Grace Meng*
Reach reporter Jenna
Bagcal by e-mail at jbagcal@
qns.com or by phone at
(718) 260-2583.
The proposed location for Total Wine & More is located at 30-02 Whitestone Exwy. Photo via Google Maps
link
link
/qns.com
