ALTOONA, Pa. -- A Sheetz convenience store is once again selling beer, six months after its original venture into those sales was ended by the state, reported WJAC-TV. Sales started at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday at the store in Altoona, Pa., the chain?s home base, making it the third time the store has unlocked the beer coolers.
Sheetz officials said they anticipate a lengthy legal battle, but said they are thrilled to be back in the beer business.
It could be six months to a year before a judge makes a final ruling, but until then, customers [image-nocss] will be able to buy six- and 12-packs to go at the location the company calls a "convenience restaurant."
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last Tuesday agreed to hear a case on whether convenience and grocery stores in the state can sell beer without also allowing customers to drink in the store. The question arose when Commonwealth Court in February ruled 4-3 that the Sheetz location could sell takeout beer only if patrons could also drink the beer at the location, which the retailer itself had not planned to allow.
Sheetz had received a license from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), but the move was challenged by the trade association that represents hundreds of beer distributors in the state. The Malt Beverage Distributors Association is concerned that grocery and c-stores will emerge as unfair competition, said Robert B. Hoffman, the association?s attorney.
The Sheetz case is expected to set a precedent for the sale of beer in c-stores statewide.
Amid ongoing legal battles, the location has not sold beer since April. Since the appeals could take about six more months, the judge ruled that Sheetz can resume beer sales while those cases are being heard.
While the lawsuit is between the distributors association and the PLCB, officials with Sheetz said the chain, and its customers, have an interest in the ruling. Mike Cortez, Sheetz vice president and general counsel, said it is an issue concerning customer service and convenience. "The reason we're happy is because this has always been for us a matter of convenience for our customers," Cortez told The Patriot-News. "We're happy to have the opportunity to make that argument for our customers."
Hoffman said the association, too, welcomes the chance to argue the case. "The public has an interest in whether beer is or is not sold in that setting," he said, according to the report.
And PLCB Chairman P.J. Stapleton issued a statement on the state Supreme Court's decision to hear the PLCB's appeal of a Commonwealth Court decision that would require holders of "eating place malt beverage" licenses to sell malt or brewed beverages for on-premises, as well as off-premises, consumption:
"The [PLCB] is grateful that the Supreme Court has decided to hear this appeal. The board continues to believe that the liquor code grants licensees a right to sell alcohol but does not impose a duty on licensees to sell alcohol. If allowed to stand, Commonwealth Court's decision could compromise the board?s longstanding mission of controlling the sale of alcohol in Pennsylvania by imposing new duties on thousands of holders of eating place malt beverage and restaurant licenses in Pennsylvania. If allowed to stand, Commonwealth Court's decision could also subject these licensees, who have operated under the [P]LCB's historical interpretation of the liquor code, to citation for failure to follow the court's interpretation. We look forward to making our case before the Supreme Court and believe that we will prevail."
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