Increasing the availability of alcohol means increasing the number of physical locations where alcohol is present, increasing the number of licenses for selling alcohol, or increasing the social availability of alcohol. Social availability means provision of alcohol through social sources--parents, friends, older siblings, community members, and so on.

Most grocery stores currently have a 3.2% beer license, meaning they cannot sell strong beer. If grocery stores sold wine, they would increase the number of alcohol products they made available to the public. In addition, if grocery stores that do not have a 3.2% beer license decide to start selling wine, there would be an increase in the overall number of alcohol outlets. In order for grocery stores to sell only wine in addition to 3.2% beer, they will likely have to propose an off-sale wine license that currently does not exist. The creation of a new category implies additional licenses that in turn imply increases in availability.

Numerous research studies have demonstrated that an increase in the availability of alcohol (whether through the addition of outlets or the availability of stronger alcohol) results in an increase in the consumption of alcohol (Gruenewald, 1998). Privatizing state distribution systems (which results in an increase in establishments) has consistently resulted in an increase in wine sales, ranging from 15% to 150% (Wagenaar & Holder, 1995). In addition, researchers have found that increasing the density of alcohol outlets results in increased beer, wine and spirit consumption. For example, one study revealed a 17% increase in wine sales following the introduction of table wine into grocery stores. No other category of alcoholic beverage had increased sales (Wagenaar & Langley, 1994). Increases in alcohol outlets near college campuses results in increases in consumption among college students (Fillmore & Wittman, 1982; Chaloupka & Wechsler, 1996). In contrast, restricting the retail availability of alcohol is associated with reduced consumption (Gliksman & Rush, 1986).

Increases in availability and subsequent consumption of alcohol result in increased alcohol-related problems (Gruenewald, 1998). More specifically, increased availability can result in an increase in drunk driving, motor vehicle crashes, gonorrhea, and liver cirrhosis (Dull & Giacopassi, 1988; Scribner, MacKinnon & Dwyer, 1994; Jewell & Brown, 1995; Scribner, Cohen & Farley, 1998; Stout, Sloan, Liang & Davies, 2000). Communities with more alcohol outlets produce greater numbers of alcohol-related hospital admissions (Tatlow, Clapp & Hohman, 2000). Increased alcohol availability is also associated with an increase in violence, including homicide, assault, robbery, rape and weapons use (Dull & Giacopassi, 1988; Scribner, MacKinnon & Dwyer, 1995). Density of alcohol outlets is a strong predictor of crime and is positively associated with the number of crimes committed, including robbery, burglary, and theft (Roncek & Maier, 1991; Speer, Gorman, Labouvie, et al., 1998). Violent crime by or against youth is also positively associated with alcohol outlet density (Alaniz, Cartmill & Parker, 1998).

In 1999 the St. Paul LIEP Office conducted compliance checks at all alcohol establishments in the city. Of the 74 alcohol outlets checked that have off-sale 3.2 licenses, 30 (or 41 %) failed the first round of checks. The majority of these outlets are food/grocery stores. Increasing the number of alcoholic beverages sold in an establishment likely means an increase in the number of attempted purchases. Poor age identification procedures in grocery stores may result in an increased number of youth accessing alcohol illegally. One of the potential reasons why employees in grocery stores may be less focused on issues related to alcohol sales is because selling alcohol is not a primary focus of these businesses.