Trader Joe's Long Island wine store plan blocked as New York regulators side with local liquor shops

Trader Joe’s attempt to open a wine store in Uniondale has been rejected by the state Liquor Authority.

The national retailer, which closed its wine store in Manhattan in 2022, was seeking to open a wine shop at the Gallery at Westbury Plaza. Trader Joe’s already has a grocery store at that Uniondale shopping center, which has a Garden City mailing address.

But the authority’s board of commissioners denied the retailer’s application for a wine store license during a meeting Wednesday in Manhattan after several owners and managers of Uniondale-area alcohol stores spoke in opposition to the plan.

Hurting local sellers

"I think this would kind of be the nail in the coffin for a lot of local stores. It’s another national chain we just don’t need," said Daniel M. DeFerrari, general manager of Westbury Liquors, which is a tenant of Costco and shares a building with the warehouse club on Old Country Road.

"I don’t think it serves the public convenience or advantage by any means," DeFerrari said.

If Trader Joe’s is eventually granted a license by the Liquor Authority to open a wine store somewhere else in New York, the retailer will be limited to one in the state, by law.

In its denial of Trader Joe's request, the three-member authority board said there were already seven alcohol retailers within 1½ miles of the address the grocer had picked for a wine store. The largest of those stores, Total Wine, Spirits & More, is part of a 280-store chain and has a 43,000-square-foot store 0.2 miles away from the spot Trader Joe's selected.

All but one of those seven alcohol stores were projected to have sales declines in 2025, Commissioner Edgar De Leon said.

"And I’m just not seeing, with these numbers being down and so much alcohol and wine being sold in such a small area, that we need another store. And, so, respectfully, I have to decline," he said.

Population, income and convenience

Trader Joe’s sought a license to open a 4,978-square-foot wine store at 934 Old Country Rd. in the Gallery at Westbury Plaza, whose tenants include off-price stores Nordstrom Rack, Bloomingdale’s Outlet, Saks Off 5th, Banana Republic Factory and HomeGoods.

Trader Joe’s has 120 different private-label wines, and 20% of the wine store’s inventory would have been made up of private-label brands, the retailer’s attorney, Maston J. Sansom, a partner with the law firm Shenker Russo & Clark LLP in Albany, said at the board meeting.

"Also, a vast majority of the remaining inventory will be highly curated, much like their grocery stores, that has a specialty craft inventory. It will translate, certainly, to the wine store," he said.

Trader Joe’s chose the Gallery at Westbury Plaza because the shopping center is in an area that is densely populated and has a high median income, and it would be convenient to access for Trader Joe’s grocery shoppers, he said.

Owners and managers from several nearby stores, including Wheatley Hills Wine & Liquor  and Nine Star Fine Wines and Spirits, spoke at Wednesday’s meeting in opposition to Trader Joe’s application, with some saying that Total Wine’s recent expansion already had hurt their sales.

Letters in opposition

Also, state Assemb. Edward P. Ra (R-Franklin Square) and the Metropolitan Package Store Association, an Albany-based trade group for independent liquor stores statewide, had sent letters to the board in opposition, Liquor Authority board chair Lily M. Fan said at the meeting.

Trader Joe’s did not respond to Newsday’s request for comment, including an inquiry about whether it would apply for a license to open a wine store in another location.

To approve a wine store or liquor license, the authority’s board must find that granting the license would provide "public convenience and advantage."

The board considers several factors, including whether an area is adequately served by existing wine or liquor stores, the proximity of those stores to the applicant’s proposed location, the gross sales of the nearest liquor stores, and the demographics.

Fan said she found no public convenience or advantage in Trader Joe’s proposed wine store.

"Seven of the closest stores are doing significantly declining numbers. ... It’s very significant if ... Costco’s tenant is coming in and saying they’re down 10%" in sales, she said.

Manhattan store closed

In New York State, an owner is limited by law to only one liquor or wine store. 

Trader Joe’s previously had a wine store in Manhattan’s Union Square, but the retailer closed the 16-year-old shop in August 2022. 

Employees accused the chain of abruptly closing the store because they planned to join the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Trader Joe's in January 2024 accusing the retailer of illegally attempting to intimidate workers against unionizing. Trader Joe's had denied those claims. 

Trader Joe's did not respond to Newsday's inquiries about the former employees' allegations or why the Union Square store closed.

The Monrovia, California-based retailer has more than 600 grocery stores in 42 states and Washington, D.C., including seven stores on Long Island. The retailer will open another Long Island grocery store this year, in Miller Place.

Trader Joe's has a total of five wine shops in Kentucky and Colorado. Some of the retailer's grocery stores in other states, such as California, sell beer, wine and spirits.

In New York State, grocery stores can sell beer, but the law prohibits them from selling wine or spirits. Grocery stores are allowed by law to sell what are classified as "wine products," defined as low-alcohol beverages made with 6% or less of alcohol by volume, according to the Liquor Authority. Wine and liquor stores cannot sell beer in the state.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.