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Last month, the FTC revived a long-dormant anti-monopoly law to take on the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributor. The lawsuit accuses Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, a wholesale liquor giant, of cutting sweetheart deals for big chain stores while gouging small grocers, corner stores, and independent liquor shops with higher prices.
On its face, the case could restore much-needed competition to the retail liquor industry. But it’s also about something far bigger: the FTC’s attempt to restore a fundamental principle of fairness to our economy. For decades, big retailers have been allowed to dominate simply by virtue of their size, exploiting their power to strong-arm suppliers and crush smaller competitors. By reviving the Robinson-Patman Act, the FTC is signaling a bold move to undo the damage—to level the playing field, protect small businesses, and ensure that economic power isn’t concentrated in the hands of a few dominant players.
Few people have heard of the Robinson-Patman Act, a New Deal–era law that bans price discrimination, which occurs when manufacturers sell the same product to retailers at different prices—often under pressure from retail behemoths. But the FTC’s decision to stop enforcing it decades ago triggered a seismic shift in America. It gave massive chains like Walmart free rein to squeeze suppliers for unfair discounts. Walmart’s expansion went unchecked; manufacturers consolidated and shuttered factories; jobs vanished; and thousands of small businesses folded, leaving hollowed-out Main Streets and food deserts in their wake. Outside of the collapse of US manufacturing, few economic forces have done as much damage to the American landscape in the past 50 years.
Kick-starting renewed enforcement of Robinson-Patman will mean not just survival but opportunity and growth for independent stores everywhere. More competition will mean lower prices, more shelf space for cool new products, and newfound wealth in towns and cities alike. Fairness as a regulatory guiding light will mean a better deal for everyone.
"Consumers will feel the benefits through greater choice, lower prices, and vibrant neighborhood business districts," says Stacy Mitchell
How a federal policy change in the 1980s created the modern food desert.
The decision to stop enforcing a single law decimated the independent grocery market and led to the dominance of big chains.
The government's decision to stop enforcing the law in the 1980s fueled the collapse of Main Street. Now a revival is imminent.