AUGUSTA – House members concerned about overregulating retail in Maine rejected a bill Thursday that would have outlawed selling beer and wine below cost.

The bill is still alive, however, as it goes to the Senate for consideration.

The bill was geared to benefit “mom and pop” stores that are hurt when larger retailers occasionally sell their older stocks of beer and wine below cost, according to Rep. John Patrick, D-Rumford, a proponent of the bill.

The bill failed 91-47.

Rep. Sarah O. Lewin, R-Eliot, said she has spent her life in retail and was concerned about the bill’s potential impact. “If we don’t stop overregulating retail, there won’t be a lot of retail left,” she said.

Rep. Patricia Blanchette, D-Bangor, said she was voting against the bill because she wouldn’t want to deter retail from coming to Maine. “Four times a year there are loss-leaders on alcohol,” she said. “Mom and pop stores will always thrive with us” because of the convenience, she added.

Patrick said he initially voted against the bill in committee, but changed his mind after visiting several small stores, whose owners told him their “businesses were dusted” during those four weeks when chain stores discounted the products.

Rep. Richard Burns, D-Berwick, also favored the bill.

“If big-box stores purchase products that have a shelf life, and over-purchase, they have to sustain the loss,” he said. “I don’t want their losses to be picked up by the mom and pop stores that want to do more than just survive.”

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