Nick Fede Jr., Executive Director, Rhode Island Liquor Operators Collaborative.

By Nick Fede, Jr., Director, Rhode Island Liquor Operators Collaborative

Rhode Island’s package stores don’t need a reminder that this is a relationship business. We live it every day serving our neighbors, supporting local charities, employing Rhode Islanders, and competing in a marketplace that gets more complicated by the month. What we do need, especially right now, is the discipline to invest in the one thing that protects everything else we’ve built: Advocacy.

As Executive Director of the Rhode Island Liquor Operators Collaborative (RILOC), I spend my days tracking legislation, meeting with regulators, talking with elected officials, and working with retailers who are trying to keep their doors open and their businesses compliant. I can tell you plainly: The policy environment around beverage alcohol is changing nationwide, and the pressures aimed at independent retailers are not slowing down. They’re becoming more coordinated, better funded, and more relentless.

We all feel it here—new bills, new “reform” proposals, new attempts to chip away at the rules that keep our system fair and workable. It would be a mistake to view these fights as isolated to our state. The regulatory and legislative issues facing package stores in Rhode Island are part of a broader pattern playing out across the country.

Look at what retailers are dealing with nationwide: constant pushes to weaken or bypass the three-tier system, proposals that would allow shipping or delivery models that undercut local businesses, efforts to expand product categories in ways that create confusion and compliance risk, and ongoing attempts to impose new costs or restrictions on how retailers operate—whether through changing enforcement priorities, new licensing frameworks, or “consumer convenience” arguments that sound nice in a hearing room but land hard on Main Street.

And it’s not just one angle attack. In some states, the fight is over direct-to-consumer shipping expansions. In others, it’s about big-box interests seeking more favorable rules. In still others, it’s about the growing collision between cannabis and alcohol regulation—new intoxicating products appearing in gray markets, policy proposals moving faster than regulators can responsibly oversee, and retailers left wondering where the line is today, where it will be tomorrow, and who is going to be held accountable when something goes wrong.

Here’s the part that matters for to you: If we don’t stay organized and continue to advocate, we get regulated by default—by whoever shows up, whoever funds the messaging, and whoever gets the last word with policymakers. That is exactly why investing in RILOC’s advocacy isn’t optional. It’s a business necessity. When you invest in RILOC—through financial contributions, participation, showing up for calls-to-action, and supporting the work—we can do what no single store can do alone:

• We can monitor what’s coming before it becomes a crisis.
• We can build relationships with decision-makers before the vote is scheduled.
• We can bring facts, data, and real-world impact into rooms that too often only hear theory and talking points.
• We can coordinate rapidly when a bill drops, a regulation shifts, or a narrative starts to form that paints retailers as the problem instead of the community anchor, we actually are.

Most importantly, we can speak with one voice. Because let’s be honest: the other side is already coordinated. National advocacy groups, deep-pocketed interests, and organizations with paid staff and professional messaging are working year-round to shape policy outcomes. They travel. They attend conferences. They share playbooks. They compare notes across state lines. They don’t treat advocacy as a side project—they treat it as a core strategy.

Join us this April 18-20 in Louisville, Kentucky for the ABL Annual Meeting, where beverage alcohol retailers from around the country converge. The meeting is not a vacation, and it’s not just another industry event. It’s where the national retail community compares intelligence, gets ahead of trends, and learns what’s working—and what’s not—in statehouses around the country. It’s where you hear directly from experts on regulatory shifts, litigation risks, enforcement trends, and the political strategies being used right now against independent retailers.

Just as importantly, it’s where Rhode Island retailers can strengthen relationships with counterparts nationwide and bring back ideas we can apply at home. When Rhode Island shows up, it matters. It signals that our retailers are engaged, informed, and connected. It makes us harder to ignore. It gives insight and tools to defend your store’s future.

Protecting your package store isn’t just about stocking the right products and running a tight operation. It’s about protecting the rules that make it possible for you to compete fairly, operate responsibly, and serve your community without being squeezed out by policy decisions made without you in the room. That’s what RILOC is here to do: If retailers treat advocacy like the investment it is.

Nick Fede Jr. serves as RILOC’s Executive Director, American Beverage Licensees’ Vice President (Off-Premise) and is a third-generation liquor retailer.