DENVER – With the veto clock ticking, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a bill Friday afternoon to allow chain grocery stores across the state to sell full-strength beer, wine and liquor … eventually. 

The former brewpub owner had until midnight Friday to veto the bill.

Hickenlooper had been lukewarm on the bill, fearing that allowing businesses to hold more than one liquor license would put out of business the mom-and-pop liquor stores that have flourished under Colorado’s strict single-license limit.

Most grocery stores have a single store in Denver or the metro area that has a liquor license.

That law has been in place since prohibition ended in 1933.

Senate Bill 197 slowly allows chain grocery stores to obtain multiple licenses after buying the liquor licenses from any nearby liquor stores that could be impacted. In small towns, the radius definition of “nearby” expands.

The bill was considered a “grand compromise” that appeased some liquor store owners and grocery stores like Walmart and Target.

Some grocery stores, including chains King Soopers and Safeway, have said they will try to put a measure on the November ballot to immediately allow stores to hold more than one license.

“Nobody likes this,” Hickenlooper said. “I think most of the small businesses – and by this I would include the craft producers, the distilleries, the wineries and the breweries – most of them and certainly most of the independent liquor stores like the status quo.”

Hickenlooper said he was torn on the decision until the scales started tipping toward more liquor stores wanting the bill signed than not.

“No one is celebrating this,” he said. “It’s a difficult compromise.”

SB 197 does many things.

Beginning in January the bill allows grocery stores to obtain up to five liquor licenses to sell full-strength beer and wine if the store first buys out at least two nearby liquor stores and the licenses from all liquor stores within 1,500 feet, even if more than two are in that radius.

In 2019 hard alcohol sales will be allowed in the stores.

The additional license limit will slowly increase until the regulation is completely lifted in 2037.

“This gave them an opportunity to pick their own poison and for small mom-and-pop liquor stores they are now going to have some time and some space to make some plans,” said Sen. Pat Steadman, the brainchild behind SB 197. “They are going to have some time to decide whether they are going to compete in this new and changing market that this bill creates or whether this is the time for them to get out.”

Additionally the bill prohibits stores with multiple licenses from selling beer, wine and liquor at “a price that is below the liquor-licensed” store’s cost to purchase the alcohol.

A group that is gathering signatures to ask voters in November to allow grocers to have multiple licenses and sell liquor immediately issued a statement calling the bill “flawed and unconstitutional.” Your Choice Colorado has raised $2.7 million and was backed by King Soopers and Safeway, although the campaign finance report only lists donations from a nonprofit social welfare organization that doesn’t have to disclose its donors.

“Your Choice Colorado will continue to weigh our options to keep standing by the voters, giving them the ability to make their voices heard amidst this broken system – whether through a legal challenge to this sloppy bill or, as planned, taking it to the ballot in 2016,” said Georgie Aguirre-Scasa, campaign manager for the committee. “It will not stand the test of time. Colorado voters and consumers will not allow it.”

A ballot initiative would be risky because Hickenlooper and Steadman both said any law passed by voters would work in concert with the requirements of buying out competitors and other parts of the law.

A legal challenge is possible.

Hickenlooper said Friday he has been in contact with Safeway and King Soopers representatives on the issue.

“We certainly hope they are not put forward on the ballot,” he said.

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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644

Twitter @CapitolSchrader

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signs a bill on Friday. Photo by Megan Schraeder, The Gazette.

FILE – Alcohol for sale at Safeway at South Broadway and Mineral in Littleton on Tuesday, October 20, 2015. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

AAron Ontiveroz