Wegmans sells out of Trump wine after proposed boycott
Supermarket protest backfires in Virginia; the 'Red Eye' panel weighs in
A call to boycott an East Coast grocery store because it carries Trump wine has now backfired.
Over the weekend, 300 members of the Prince William County chapter of the National Organization for Women called on locals to boycott Wegmans Food Markets unless the Rochester, N.Y.-based company agreed to remove Trump Winery wines at its 10 stores in Virginia. The Trump vineyard is located in Charlottesville, Va.
"Certainly if Wegmans is carrying Trump wines, I personally will not shop there," Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, told the Washington Post. O'Neill's call for a boycott doubles down on a digital campaign that sprung up just after the election calling on shoppers to #StopTrumpWine.
"Let's demonstrate through economic action that the residents and business owners of Charlottesville will not stand for the hatred espoused by Eric Trump and those like him," a statement on the group's website reads.
Despite a wave of support for many retail stores which have dropped Trump-branded products (Nordstrom announced it was dropping Ivanka Trump’s line of shoes and clothing amid a 32 percent decline in sales), the president's supporters in Virginia fought back against the proposed boycott by heading to Wegmans and buying up as much wine as they could get their hands on.
Many turned to social media to proclaim their right to shop-- and applauded the store for not caving to anti-Trump sentiments.
@JVER1 @Wegmans hahahaha I Love it!!! Love Wegmans!! And Now I'm gonna buy a case of Trump wine and have a toast for all the left crybabys!
— joey fallacaro (@jfall31) February 15, 2017
Good for @Wegmans for not caving to a ridiculous request to drop Trump wine or face a boycott. This new phase of consumerism is asinine
— Carl Couchtamer (@kkirchgraber) February 15, 2017
I support @Wegmans for keeping Trump Wine on the shelves, because banning products is stupid and it doesn't work. Don't give IN!
— Kate Todd (@KateToddPhoto) February 15, 2017
TRUMP WINERY UNDER FIRE AFTER APPLYING FOR VISAS SEEKING FOREIGN WORKERS
Five of the wine varieties have sold out at two Richmond-area Wegmans stores, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Jo Natale, Wegmans' vice president of media relations, told Fox News via email that as a business, their role is to “offer choices” to customers but their decision to sell the wine is not a political endorsement.
“For various reasons, we are sometimes asked to stop selling a product. Our response is always the same, no matter the product: How a product performs is our single measure for what stays on our shelves and what goes,” Natale said.
She says that when sales of a product “drop precipitously,” they stop selling it.
Natale added that the Charlottesville store had approximately 100 remaining bottles of the Trump Winery Meritage and 20 bottles of the Cru as of 4 p.m. Friday. But all other Virginia Wegmans stores are now out of stock of Trump wines.
It may be three or four weeks before the wine is available again, Wegmans says.
Currently, the grocer carries 237 Virginia wines from 58 wineries. Among those are five varieties from the Trump Winery, including Trump Blanc de Blanc and Trump Winery Chardonnay.
LADY GAGA GETTING INTO THE BEVERAGE BUSINESS WITH 'GRIGIO GIRLS' WINES
According to the Washington Post, Wegmans has been selling wines from the Trump vineyard (formally the Kluge Estate Winery) since 2008, years before it was associated with the Trump family.
Trump bought the property and winemaking operation, owned by Patricia Kluge, for $6.2 million in a 2011 foreclosure auction.
The president's son Eric Trump now runs Trump Winery. The company’s wines are sold at a number of stores including Giant, Harris Teeter, Safeway, Kroger and Whole Foods, according to its website.