Cook County retailers report beverage sales decline

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

As the owner of three Food Market La Chiquita stores in Cook County, Martin Sandoval has watched his usual number of sales dip over the last two weeks, a result of the county’s beverage tax.

“It’s just beginning,” Sandoval said. “People don’t realize how much the tax costs them until they get home and they look at the receipt. Then they decide not to come back, and I know that’s just going to increase.”

Sandoval said his beverage sales have dropped 10 to 15 percent since the county’s sweetened beverage tax, which takes aim at sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened drinks, went into effect on Aug. 2.

His chain of stores isn’t the only one seeing their sales go down the drain.

Sandoval, Tony’s Finer Foods and Lupe Jimenez own 21 stores in the county between them. As part of the Illinois Food Retailers Association, the three retailers provided data on their sales to the Can the Tax Coalition. The coalition receives funding from the American Beverage Association.

David Goldenberg, a spokesperson for Can the Tax, said the declining sales were predicted by residents and retailers long before the tax went into effect and “no one is surprised” by the numbers.

The demand for soda is a downward sloping curve.