{"id":68019,"date":"2023-08-02T16:06:53","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T16:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/08\/02\/beer-and-wine-sales-expanded-to-more-commissaries-whats-next\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:15:12","slug":"beer-and-wine-sales-expanded-to-more-commissaries-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/pay-benefits\/mil-money\/2023\/08\/02\/beer-and-wine-sales-expanded-to-more-commissaries-whats-next\/","title":{"rendered":"Beer and wine sales expanded to more commissaries. What\u2019s next?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Beer and wine may be here to stay in military commissaries \u2014 at least in some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are now 26 commissary stores selling beer and wine, and the new commissary director would like to increase that number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it a pilot program any more,\u201d said John E. Hall, who became CEO and director of the Defense Commissary Agency<\/a> on June 4. The pilot program began with 12 stores in 2018<\/a>. His predecessor, Bill Moore, added 14 stores in November; no announcement was made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really about the convenience. Most commercial grocery stores you go into offer beer and wine,\u201d said Hall, in an interview with Military Times. It remains to be seen what happens beyond the 26 stores, he said. \u201cI clearly would like to go beyond the 26.\u201d There are 236 commissary stores located around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissary and exchange officials will work on the next steps, Hall said. The 26 commissaries sell a limited selection of beer and wine at exchange prices, on concession from the exchanges, plus the commissary 5% surcharge at the cash register charged on all products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to be the Class 6 store,\u201d said Marine Sgt. Maj. Michael Saucedo, the senior enlisted adviser in the Defense Commissary Agency. He reiterated that it\u2019s a matter of convenience \u2014 being able to grab a bottle of wine at the same time you\u2019re buying a steak, or some beer to go with burgers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With more than double the number of stores selling beer and wine, commissary officials saw an increase in sales of those libations in June, month over month, compared to June 2022. There was an increase of 153% in dollar sales of beer and wine, and 144% in unit volume. And so far in fiscal 2023, commissaries have sold $3.6 million worth of beer and wine, a 119% increase over the same period in fiscal 2022, Hall said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 14 additional commissaries selling beer and wine are on Army and Air Force bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the additional sales in commissaries doesn\u2019t translate into an overall increase in beer and wine sales on the 26 installations. Instead, it\u2019s a shift in sales from the Army & Air Force Exchange stores to the commissaries, AAFES officials said. In the first six months of the 14 additional stores, overall sales of beer and wine on installations increased less than 0.5% across the beer and wine category, showing a 5% shift in sales from AAFES stores to commissaries \u2014 yet increasing administrative and inventory costs for AAFES, said Chris Ward, a spokesperson for AAFES.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe resulting shift in patronage [to commissaries] resulted in a loss of transaction count which created negative Exchange earnings, decreasing funding for the services\u2019 critical quality of life programs,\u201d Ward said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar to the way tobacco is priced in commissaries, beer and wine is purchased for resale from the military exchanges, to minimize any potential impact on exchange profits and dividends to morale, welfare and recreation programs. There are limited selections of the libations in commissaries, as officials don\u2019t want to displace other important items.<\/p>\n\n\n\t