Total Wine & More, a liquor store chain, wants to open in Oklahoma. Will the state let it?

Total Wine & More, a popular national retail chain selling wine and spirits based outside Washington, D.C., or someone representing it who lives in Oklahoma, has applied for a retail liquor license to open a store in the OKC area.

If the license is approved for the company, and not an individual store owner, it would be a first, since state law requires liquor stores to be owned by state residents and limits owners to two stores. Total Wine & More wants to open a store in Moore.

Whether a company or a person applied for the license, the 266-store chain has legal hurdles to overcome before it can open in Oklahoma. State law spells out that only people, not businesses, can hold a license:

"No retail spirits license shall be issued to a corporation, limited liability company or similar business entity. No person may own any interest in more than two package stores; provided, a spouse of a retail spirits license holder may hold a separate interest in up to two (2) package stores."

It would not be the first time the chain has challenged a state's liquor store laws. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Total Wine & More in a similar situation in Tennessee in 2019.

A clue: Total Wine & More is looking to hire a store manager in Moore

The family-owned chain, based in North Bethesda, Maryland, is advertising to hire a store manager in Moore on Salary.com. The location isn't specified, but it is reportedly the former Bed Bath & Beyond at Shops at Moore, a large shopping center southeast of SW 19 and Interstate 35.

A broker with commercial realty firm CBRE Group, which handles leasing for the shopping center, had no comment. Total Wine & More did not respond to a request for information.

A liquor license application is under review, confirmed Lori Carter, assistant director and general counsel for the Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission, commonly called the ABLE Commission. She had no further comment beyond: "This is a little more complicated."

'America's Wine Superstore' locations are 'independently owned and operated'

Total Wine & More bills itself as "America's Wine Superstore" and "the country‘s largest independent retailer of fine wine." However, in Oklahoma City, a Google search for the company hits a site tied to a Total Wine & More store in Wichita, Kansas, the closest one to OKC, that displays these "legal details":

"NOTICE TO CONSUMERS: This store is independently owned and operated by Wichita Fine Wine & Spirits, LLC, DBA as Total Wine & More, in accordance with Kansas liquor laws. It is not the same as other businesses which operate under the same or similar brand name in Kansas or other states."

A similar arrangement could be at play in Moore.

Is Total Wine & More out to challenge Oklahoma liquor store law?

It's possible that the chain intends to challenge Oklahoma state law if its application is denied. Total Wine & More did just that in Tennessee, and the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the chain in a 2019 decision, striking down that state's two-year residency requirement for anyone seeking an initial license to operate a liquor store.

"There is no doubt that if a state had such a restrictive provision involving the sale of any other product, it would be deemed a violation of the Constitution's ban on erecting barriers to interstate commerce," National Public Radio reported. "But the 21st Amendment, which repealed the national prohibition of liquor sales, left to the states the right to regulate those sales within state borders. Mississippi was the last dry state in the country, finally allowing the sale of liquor in 1966."

NPR quoted Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote for the majority of the court: "(W)hile this requirement is less extreme than the others the others that the Sixth Circuit found to be unconstitutional, we now hold that it also violates the Commerce Clause and is not shielded by ... the Twenty-first Amendment."

Alito added, "Because Tennessee's 2-year residency requirement for retail license applicants blatantly favors the State's residents and has little relationship to public health and safety, it is unconstitutional."

Total Wine & More, if it makes it in Oklahoma, would be "a welcome addition to the market,' retail specialist says

It's unclear how the ABLE Commission could approve a license for Total Wine & More, or why the company would apply for one unless the intent is to challenge a rejection in court. The company did not respond to a request for information.

If it's successful, it will be "a welcome addition to the market," said Jim Parrack, senior vice president and retail specialist with OKC commercial real estate firm Price Edwards & Edwards & Co. Total Wine & More and other liquor chain stores in other states are occasional hot topics on social media in Oklahoma.

"They are well known for their competitive pricing and selection. Reviews on their service tend to vary from store to store. Given our current liquor laws, don’t expect a huge influx of national chains, but a few here and there would ultimately benefit consumers by providing more choices and competition," Parrack said.

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Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize. You can support Richard's work, and that of his colleagues, by purchasing a digital subscription to The Oklahoman. Right now, you can get 6 months of subscriber-only access for $1.