HARRISBURG, Pa. -- In the latest installment of what has been a long saga, dating back to 2004, Sheetz Inc. went before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday to fight for takeout beer sales at its prototype "convenience restaurant" in Altoona, Pa., reported The Patriot-News.
The plan is being fought by the state's beer distributors, who argued that under the license the store is using to sell beer, customers must also be permitted to drink it on the premises, something the chain does not permit.
Although the case applies to a single convenience store, the report said that many [image-nocss] industry observers agree it is the latest in a series of skirmishes over how beer should be sold in Pennsylvania in a changing marketplace.
On one side are grocers and c-store chains, trying new ways to get their foot in the door. The Wegmans supermarket chain has received Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) approval to sell beer and wine at cafes in six of its Pennsylvania stores. It is seeking a seventh license for a new store. On the other side are groups such as the Pennsylvania Malt Beverage Distributors Association (PMBDA), which has cited business and safety concerns as reasons for trying to prevent this expansion, said the report.
"The [PLCB] authorized venues to sell beer that the legislature never intended," Robert Hoffman, the attorney for the distributors' group, argued at Wednesday's hearing on the Sheetz case, the newspaper said.
"I don't know that there would be a lot of others jumping in" to beer sales, David McCorkle, president of the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association (PFMA), the trade group for grocers and convenience stores, told the paper. "There might be a few."
In part, he and others said, that is because of the hurdles that still exist in the law. At present, the law bars the sale of gasoline and alcohol at the same place, and requires at least 30 seats for sitdown eating, a separate cash register and other degrees of separation between restaurant and store.
C-store operators, most of whom sell gasoline, said it is even tougher for them. Even Sheetz officials noted after Wednesday's hearing that it would be difficult to copy what they have done in Altoona at more than a handful of their current sites, the report said, and there are no plans to do so.
Company general counsel Michael Cortez told The Patriot-News, "What our customers have told us is, they like the service. But I don't expect a wide dissemination of these kinds of stores at Sheetz or anyplace else.... That would require a legislative change."
That is when many other chains would likely get in the beer-selling game, too, said the report. "It'd be a business necessity," Scott Hartman, president of Rutter's Farm Stores, told the paper.
Sheetz's attorneys told justices Wednesday the company is willing to serve beer in the Altoona store if that is required.
No decision is expected in the case for several weeks, said the report.
Currently, about 500 delicatessens and similar establishments in the state hold beer-only licenses like the one granted to Sheetz, allowing them to sell six-packs and serve beer, added an Associated Press report. Takeout customers can buy the equivalent of two six-packs of 16-oz. cans at the businesses.
Sheetz's Altoona store is based on a new concept that emphasizes food sales, Stanley Wolowski, a lawyer for Ohio Springs Inc., a Sheetz Inc. subsidiary. While connected to the c-store, the eating area features seating for 62 patrons and 4,000 square feet of floor space.
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