A couple years ago I blogged about beer in a grocery store (sadly, this specialty grocery store has since closed citing the economy and location, I can’t say I’m surprised, it was in Lansdale). For those of you living in states with sane liquor laws, this may not be much of a shock – grocery stores sell beer, gas stations sell beer! Well, not in Pennsylvania, some of you have heard me rant before.
Here’s the deal for quick review, in Pennsylvania you buy beer at “beer supply stores” where they sell beer by the case. How do you get singles and six-packs? You go to a bar or a restaurant that sells beer to-go. There is an ounce limit on these purchases, which many stores will happy inform you that you can get around by buying the limit, taking it out to your car, and coming in to buy up to the limit again. This unto itself is a bit absurd. Grocery stores can’t sell beer. Convenience stores can’t sell beer. Beer supply stores can’t sell 6-packs or singles, and there are no specialty beer stores that sell six-packs or singles. Only bars and restaurants can sell six-packs and singles.
So, hm… what exactly is a restaurant? Who can get these licenses to sell beer? This has been hashed out by a series of cases these past few years. Apparently there are certain things an establishment has to have to be classed as a restaurant and be eligible for a license. Sheetz, a Pennsylvania chain gas and convenience store lost their case, in spite of building a store that includes “a 60-seat restaurant with 4,000 sq. ft. of floor space.” In this article I just linked, Lew Bryson also brings up the following point:
People — legislators and judges — seem to have this bizarre idea that if beer is sold in gasoline stations, where people drive in to get gas in their cars, they will automatically drive away sucking on a cold longneck. As opposed to driving to a restaurant or bar, where they will suck on the cold longneck before they drive away? If a supermarket has a license to sell beer, how is that different from a tavern or deli with the same kind of license to sell beer?
Meh? Well, Sheetz lost, but then Wegmans, a New York grocery store chain based out of Rochester, came along to challenge the law again. Wegmans won and was awarded several liquor licenses in Pennsylvania. A lovely quote from this article from Wegmans’ lawyer R.J. O’Hara carefully explains “‘What Wegmans offers is a restaurant that happens to be based in a grocery store. By no means is it a grocery store selling beer.” Oh, I see.
Laughing yet? The article goes on to explain what else the lawyer says:
He said the company had to make changes to qualify for the licenses, including narrowing the passageway that connects the store with the cafe. O’Hara said customers will have to pay for their beer inside the cafe, not at normal checkout lanes with other grocery items.
They sure did. I visited the new Collegeville Wegmans yesterday and they have a store employee at this narrower passageway guarding it so people don’t bring beer they haven’t paid for into the rest of the grocery store. So I did my grocery shopping, then snagged a couple of beers and paid for them in the cafe, showed the guard I had paid for them (they put stickers on!), then walked across the store to pay for the rest of my groceries at the grocery store checkout.
Now Wegmans is a nice, upscale store and the opening of this store on Sunday in this area was big news and the place was quite crowded. While walking through the beer section there was a lot of anecdotal evidence from my visit that people were thrilled by this available six-packs and singles, and questions about “how they were allowed to do this” were answered by Wegmans staff non-stop – I must have heard them answer it a dozen times (ok, so I did spend about 20 minutes gawking at the beers myself trying to pick what I wanted!). But don’t trust my anecdotal evidence, MSNBC seems to have done real research:
Pennsylvania voters have said in polls that they want to see the end of the case law. The state’s small brewers are all for it; it makes their more expensive beers easier to sample. Even Mothers Against Drunk Driving is in favor of the change, because it lets people buy beer in smaller quantities.
Practically, for most beer-drinking members of the electorate, these laws make no sense. People want to buy singles and six packs, and they don’t want to have to do it by taking out from a bar or restaurant – not only is this unwieldy, there is frequently a premium price stuck on these, hop over to the border to NJ or DE and you can buy all of this beer for cheaper (and let me tell you, there are plenty of stores on the border, even though the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board likes to deny that people cross the border for alcohol purchases). Others who look into this issue tend to cite people profiting off the crazy laws as those who are responsible for the laws staying on the books.
I am hopeful that Wegmans is a good first step in getting the government in Pennsylvania to realize that people want these things – and to show people that they can have it, and fight for it. But until then? I was able to pick up the lambic pictured above for $5.99 – I think this is the cheapest I’ve ever seen it sold for in Pennsylvania. I really hope Wegmans continues to sell their beer for reasonable prices because I like beer, I like really good beer and I don’t like buying cases. I’m just one person! I never want that much beer! Even a six-pack is pushing it, I tend to buy singles, and Wegmans is where I’ll be buying these singles.
Tuesday, Oct 13th, 2009 at 20:56
Just get caught crossing the borders to buy alcohol/beer. Just south of Hanover on MD 30 is a little place called ‘Pipers’. Even driving 10 miles out of town, it’s still cheaper to buy a COLD six pack.
But..come across the border (especially on a Sunday or other big sport day and you’ll frequently be greeted (and pulled over) by local law enforcement–even on the back roads coming into PA.
They’ll look at your receipt (or if you don’t have one, the result is the same), and confiscate your purchases, as well as giving you a hefty ticket.
Yup..it’s illegal to transport alcohol across state lines (same for cigarettes in cartons–it’s the whole ‘excise tax’ thing). Been there..done that..paid the fine. $200 for a six-pack of Woodchuck Cider.
The other item about PA is the fact that the state owns the wine/spirits store. How many liquor store workers in other states get paid 40K or more a year to work there? or have full pensions? Yup..they’re government employees with full benefits..How crazy is that?
Tuesday, Oct 13th, 2009 at 21:05
I thought crossing the border with purchases was illegal, but I never bothered to dig up the actual laws. $200 fine, ouch! Still, people do it all the time.
And don’t even get me started on state-controlled wine and spirits. The selection of wine and spirits in Pennsylvania is atrocious because every bottle that comes in is vetted by a government agency for sales potential. And it’s illegal to bring in yourself and most wineries won’t ship to Pennsylvania because it’s too expensive license-wise – learning this was perhaps the only sad thing about my trip to Sonoma county last year (I’ll just ship some home! Sorry… we can’t ship to Pennsylvania).
Hurrah for Lew Bryson and his Why The PLCB Should Be Abolished blog.
Wednesday, Oct 14th, 2009 at 1:54
Hmmmmmm i love beer, especially this one that was purchased at a grocery store….i love the uk :) lol x
Wednesday, Oct 14th, 2009 at 2:46
It does seem somewhat convoluted over there Plea…. but I can understand them not selling beer at a convenience or grocery store….as Paul said, you can here in the UK, but I tend to think that maybe they shouldn’t… it would deter the many, many drunken teenagers I see in my local area if they kept the beer in the pubs…
Wednesday, Oct 14th, 2009 at 6:07
@RoboNuggie That’s a lovely theory! Alas it’s not true. Pennsylvania is on the high side of average when it comes to underaged drinking in the US.
Wednesday, Oct 14th, 2009 at 7:36
Lyz is right when it comes to underage drinking. Even back in my ‘youth’ (when many states had more reasonable drinking ages of ’18’ we still drank underage. Granted, my father was a severe, abusive Alcholic–but both he and my mother would allow me ‘sips’ of beer. My first beer ever consumed was at the hands of my best friend from school’s father at Kings Island Amusement in Cincinnati Ohio when I was just 14 years old. (he and I were just talking about that yesterday, ironically). The drinking age in Ohio at the time was 18.
My home state (Indiana) has no state owned liquor stores, and you can buy beer/wine at the local 7/11, Sheetz, or grocery stores– except on Sunday, then you’re limited to bars with Sunday permits and no carry out. Like PA, bar permits are commodities–due to limitations on how many can be in an area, and are frequently worth 3-4X what the actual commercial property is worth. I recall them building an ‘Outback’ in Muncie IN, and it sitting idle for about 9 months while they waited for a liquor license. They paid $1,500,000 for the license in a bidding war with two other places because it was the only license available in town.
Shipping of alcohol into PA is illegal because PA is trying to ‘aid’ the local winery industry; which is very large here. I know of about 6 wineries within about 45 minutes of where I currently live; and there are probably more. That’s why you have so many ‘BYOB’ places–to encourage buying local wine. Sadly, I’m not much of a wine drinker; when I do drink it I like sweeter, more fruity wines. I’m more the Beer/Scotch type myself.
Wednesday, Oct 14th, 2009 at 7:36
Alarming indeed…. but, how many are bought or obtained by the youngsters and how many are supplied by parents or relatives….
I have seen some pretty crazy pricing at the lower supermarkets chains where 15 bottles of Budweiser go for £7.50 (12 dollers)… pocket money prices..and no age checks.
Still, your situation over there is quite bizarre.. have you ever thought about home brewing?
Wednesday, Oct 14th, 2009 at 7:54
Home brewing is much more expensive than you might think, even just for the ingredients you spend nearly as much as buying a case of mid-priced microbrew. Then you have equipment, time, and your first few batches tend not to be stellar, it’s an art after all.
But yes, it was a hobby of my ex-husband, we had delicious home brewed wedding beers and we grew hops in our back yard.
Wednesday, Oct 14th, 2009 at 16:01
Wait…on a Sunday? I thought *only* State Stores (and only a handful of those) could sell alcohol on Sundays.
Also: I still find it weird to go into a grocery store in Virginia and find them selling wine.
Monday, Oct 19th, 2009 at 18:54
I recently purchased a beer distributor in PA.
In response to the intial blog I agree that the laws are crazy and I agree that they should be ratified, however the laws should be voted on by the general public and not politicians which will never happen. You commented that the legislation does not want beer at gas stations because they will drink and drive on the way home. I think the bigger issue is who is serving the beer not if they will pop one open on the way home. A beer distributor owner has a lot more to lose than some punk kid working at Citgo. Let’s face it, people who work in gas stations typically are not the brightest bulbs in the tanning booth. I can see it now, a 19 year old kid tells all of his buddies to come down to the local sheetz after his boss leaves and he will serve them. I know this happens in other states. That said, I agree that if kids want beer they will get it, however, I take pride in the fact that I am tough on carding and serving.
Whenever I am asked about how I feel about grocery stores getting beer I tell that person that if they do sell it in all grocery stores it will kill beer distributors. We will literally drop like flies which isn’t fair to us and the equity and money we have in our businesses as well as our licenses. The average consumer may not care, but the reality is that the cost to ship the beer to these stores will get passed on through the beer sales. In addition, if beer is used as a loss leader, they will make up for it on the other 500,000 SKU’s. The consumer will end up getting a great deal on a six pack of bud light but will blindly overpay for milk, lettuce and mustard. It is happening now with soda. They lure you in to buy 5 12 packs of pepsi for $6 and you walk out spending $100 bucks on over priced hamburger meat and apple jacks. My take on it is this….why are grocery stores able to sell everything? And I mean everything? They can sell, gas, food, prepared foods, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, lottery tickets, stamps, and now beer? They even sell redbox DVD’s and have coinstars. When does it end? I am a republican and believe in small business. Walmart, Target and Giant Eagles/Weis, are killing our society. Plain and simple. If you think that those large chains are passing on savings your are sorely mistaken. Lastly, I agree that Wegmans is a different breed but I highly doubt you’ll find “a lambic” at Weis or Giant. Wegmans has a good thing going and they would actually be great for beer sales and educating the public taste buds. The problem is that you give grocery stores an inch and they take a foot. Package stores and distributors in other states work, because they can sell beer wine and liquor. Until the state gives up the monoply of the state stores beer distributors won’t survive on there own. We will loose thousands of jobs….jobs that we desperately need in this state and country right now. The simple answer is to allow beer distributors sell singles, 6 and 12’s. Why does this option have to exist in grocery stores-so you don’t have to get back in your car? We would keep the prices reasonable because contrary to what most believe we do compete with each other. Last thought, if the distributors are non existent I also believe that grocery stores and walmarts will only carry top selling brands. Yes, they will dabble with some micros and imports but in the end they will only carry what sells at a good rate of return-space is money in a grocery store and they will not carry brands that move occasionally or take risks on new products. I would argue that in the end this will actually significantly hurt, craft, micro and start up breweries because again, only the strong will survive. That combined with corporate kick backs to chains from miller, coors and bud (which is illegal) will kill the little guys in the long run. Last thought, my location sells approximately 50-75 kegs of beer a week. These sales are a combination of college students, bars who run out and many locals who have kegorators. I wonder how these folks will feel when they find out that the local Weis has no interest at all in dealing with kegs and the local Distributor shut his doors….hmmm something to think about.
Monday, Oct 19th, 2009 at 19:01
Matt – Thank you for your detailed and thoughtful comment.
I think I would be perfectly happy with beer distributors selling 6-packs and singles. At least that would give us a choice aside from getting them at bars or being forced to buy a whole case.
Monday, Oct 19th, 2009 at 19:52
You are welcome. Obviously I am biased and I tend to get on my soap box. You bring up a great point with your response. Do people in PA really want beer in grocery stores or do they want a large selection of singles, six packs etc for a reasonable price at the beer store? There are over 17,000 licensees in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who can sell beer. A convenience to beer is not a valid argument by any chain or grocery owner. Considering we only have 612 state stores for wine and liquor (which by the way is also ridiculous) I am not sure why there is such a push to add to the 17,000 locations where beer is sold.