Total Wine’s Attempt to Move Into a New State Was Denied — and the Liquor Retail Giant May Take Battle to the Supreme Court

Total Wine is facing pushback from the state of Oklahoma after attempting to get a liquor license. (Photo: Kristoffer Tripplaar/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

Local Oklahoma news outlet KFOR reported that the big box liquor retailer Total Wine is pushing back at the state’s denial of its application to open its first brick-and-mortar in the area.

The application was denied due to an old law written in Oklahoma’s constitution that prohibits big corporations the ability to purchase a liquor license in Oklahoma, according to ABC’s KOCO News 5.

In April, Total Wine applied for a license within the state of Oklahoma under the name of Sooner Fine Wines, LLP, according to KFOR. As soon as Oklahoma’s ABLE Commission learned Sooner Fine Wines intended to open a Total Wine, the application was denied.

“It’s our opinion that the state constitution prohibits limited liability partnerships from obtaining a liquor retail license,” ABLE Commission Assistant Director Lori Carter said, according to KFOR.

The constitution states that anybody obtaining a license must be a sole proprietor. The individual must be a resident of the state for a minimum period of five years.

“Once our administrative proceedings are through, then, yes, they can pursue it through district court and ultimately all the way up to the Supreme Court,” Carter said.

Total Wine has faced pushback from states before and ended up escalating matters to the Supreme Court.

In 2019, Total Wine took Tennessee to the U.S. Supreme Court after the state required a 2-year residency for applicants to obtain a liquor license. NPR reported that the Supreme Court ended up siding with the big box retailer, citing that Tennessee’s law favored state residents and had “little relationship to public health and safety.” The justices ruled that the state law was unconstitutional.

Yet residents of the state worry that if Total Wine sets up shop in Oklahoma, smaller mom-and-pop retailers will face repercussions, and their worries aren’t unfounded.

In October, Total Wine participated in an ongoing Federal Trade Commission against Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits over allegations of unfair pricing practices. The FTC was looking into whether or not the distribution giant gave the big box retailer cheaper prices, giving Total Wine an unfair market advantage.

The FTC ended up settling with Total Wine in December after the retailer complied with some — but not all — of the FTC’s requests for information.

Yet Oklahoma may have a dog in this fight. KFOR reported that Oklahoma’s ABLE Commission chose to deny Total Wine its liquor license application based on the constitutional law that licenses must be granted to individuals instead of using residency laws.

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