I regularly have the conversation about bringing a new product to the Las Vegas market and can I help them. The best advice I could give anyone for years was to skip Las Vegas and Nevada and go straight to Colorado. That may not be the advice I give soon. In 2016 Colorado passed Senate Bill 197. Since prohibition, Colorado only allowed one full-strength alcohol license per licensee, which effectively kept any local chains like Twins and Spec’s that dominate the Texas landscape or the Bevmo’s of California from rising in Colorado and now has barred national competition like Total Wine, and Costco from entering the market. Senate Bill 197 now allows one operator to hold as many as 19 licenses and Costco and at least one local liquor store have started buying up licences and I am truly saddened.
For decades, the best place to bring a brand to market was Colorado specifically because it was a one owner one license state. The license situation was responsible for the early traction of the craft beer and spirit industry in Colorado. Sales are all about “no”s. It takes a lot of “no”s to hear a yes, and the old law created a lot of license holders that were potential customers. As more licenses are collected into fewer hands, the entry points to markets shrink and some entry points leave the state to corporate headquarters in other states. This creates less hospitable market overall for craft brands and real innovation. The one silver lining is generations of residents of Colorado have grown up embracing the artisans of the alcohol industry and that shows no sign of ending.
