ALBANY, N.Y. (NESTAR0 — State lawmakers made another push Thursday to let grocery stores sell wine, adding changes they said would protect liquor stores while expanding access to local wines. State Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Pam Hunter talked about amendments to their wine-in-grocery-stores bill as the legislative session draws to a close.

The revised bill—S1279A/A1328A shrinks the size requirement for eligible grocery stores from 5,000 to 4,000 square feet. It also lets liquor stores sell food like cheese and crackers alongside their alcohol, lifting a longtime restriction to sweeten the deal and try to blunt the opposition from that industry.

The bill also adds a 500-foot buffer rule to keep new grocery wine licenses from popping up near existing, competing liquor stores. That

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