by KYW's Tony Romeo
Alcohol is becoming more available in Pennsylvania grocery stores, in two different ways.
It was back in 2003 when the LCB first announced plans to situate its wine and spirits shops inside supermarkets. Despite the fact that he considers it a success, Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board chairman PJ Stapleton says there are now only 19 of these “one-stop” shops -- a number that has been mostly unchanged in recent years:
“The main reason is, from a business perspective, we already have existing leases. It would be a great financial burden for us to cancel those leases just to move into a supermarket. So, the evaluation of one-stop shops really happens when we have a lease in the area of a supermarket that’s coming up for renewal. We decide then whether we should renew or move to a supermarket.”
With that in mind, Stapleton envisions the number of one-stop shops growing to around 50 in the next five to ten years.
The other big change involving the sale of alcohol in grocery stores is the availability of beer for takeout. That’s not because of a change in state law; rather, it’s because of the decision by grocery stores to serve food and have in-store eating areas, qualifying those markets for an LCB license (top photo).
Suburban Republican state senator John Rafferty, chairman of the Pennsylvania senate's Law and Justice Committee, which has oversight of alcohol issues, doesn’t think that’s good enough:
“No, I don’t. I think we’re behind the times in Pennsylvania.”
Rafferty says state lawmakers are kicking around ideas to facilitate more supermarket sales of beer by allowing them to buy licenses from beer distributors:
“...and then convert that license to a new license we’ll have for the grocery markets.”
Conversely, the requirement that beer distributors sell by the case might be eased.
(Photo #1 by KYW's Ed Fischer. Photo #2: file.)
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