Penalties are pending, but four area liquor store retailers have been cited by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission for unlawfully combining sales.
From the ABC
Retailers Not to Combine. No combination of retailers shall be permitted to purchase merchandise in the name of one (1) retailer and subsequently distribute merchandise which they have purchased in combination with each other to any one of the combination and no retailer shall be permitted to transfer goods from one to another. If any member of the combination is found to have violated this regulation, every member shall likewise be deemed to have violated this regulation, and it shall also be a violation for the wholesale distributor to furnish merchandise to any combination of retail dealers.
The four stores are –
Lynnwood Wine & Spirits, 953 North Parkway, Jackson
Jackson Liquor Inc. – dba The Forked Vine Wine & Spirits, 621 Old Hickory Boulevard, Jackson
Medina Liquor Inc. – dba Max Liquor, 241 Grace Cove, Medina
45 Trenton Inc. – dba 45 Package Store, 2018 S 45 Bypass, Trenton
Agent Bradley Bowen began an investigation into the possible trading of the product Cutwater between four (4) retail stores.
During the investigation, agents examined invoices, sales records, and manually counted inventory at each of the four (4) retail stores.
The investigation discovered the 2 Retail Package Stores had received, sold, and still had Cutwater inventory that wasn’t purchased from their distributor (Central Distributors).
Forked Vine Wine and Spirits and Lynnwood Wine and Spirits.
The investigation also discovered that 45 Package Store and Max Liquor were the stores that transferred their Cutwater products (purchased from Clark Distribution) to Forked Vine Wine and Spirits and Lynnwood Wine and Spirits.
Mr. Gauray Patel (manager of 45 Package Store and Lynnwood Wine and Spirits, and the husband of the owner of Forked Vine Wine and Spirits, Rekah Patel) admitted transferring Cutwater products to Forked Vine Wine and Spirits and to Lynnwood Wine and Spirits from the 45 Package Store.
Mr. Krunal Kumal Patel (manager of Forked Vine Wine and Spirits and Max Liquor) admitted transferring Cutwater products to Forked Vine Wine and Spirits from the Max Liquor Store.
Both Mr. Gaurav Patel and Mr. Krunal Patel stated the reason they moved the product from one store to another was due to the store (Max Liquor and 45 Package Store) being able to purchase product from their distributor (Clark Distribution), while the other stores (Forked Vine Wine and Spirits and Lynnwood Wine and Spirits) were not able to purchase from their Distributor (Central Distributors) due to the products high demand already depleting that distributors inventory.
The investigation discovered the following in relation to the Cutwater inventory –
Total Cutwater product from Forked Vine Wine and Spirits and Lynnwood Wine and Spirits – that was not purchased from their distributor – 1892 four (4) packs
Total missing Cutwater products from 45 Package and Max Liquor – product purchased from their distributor – 1,613 four (4) packs
(PHOTO: Forked Vine Wine & Spirits, 621 Old Hickory Boulevard)
