Western Bay councils are considering removing the cap to restrict the number of bottle stores allowed to be established in their area.
Legal challenges have been received from a number of commercial interests worried about the proposal to cap the number of off-licences to the current 70 outlets in Tauranga and 32 in the rest of the Western Bay.
The cap was part of the joint councils' alcohol policy to control opening hours and the number of pubs and bottle stores.
Western Bay District Council's acting policy and planning manager Liz Davies said Progressive Enterprises, which operated Countdown Supermarkets, was concerned at how the cap would impact on its investment decisions, particularly at the planned Tauranga Crossing development at Tauriko.
She said the Western Bay and Tauranga City councils looked at a whole range of options to retain the cap but allow new supermarkets to open.