ALTOONA, Pa. -- As expected, beer sales came to a halt Tuesday afternoon at the Sheetz Inc. convenience store and restaurant in Altoona, Pa., after a state judge ruled sales cannot continue while an appeal is pending.
In a statement, president and CEO Stan Sheetz expressed disappointment and said, this is another frustrating setback in our effort to provide our customers with the freedom to purchase alcoholic beverages in a convenience setting.
Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson issued an order that keeps the court's previous [image-nocss] decision in force, reported the Altoona Mirror.
The court had determined that Sheetz's beer-sales license requires it to allow beer to be consumed on the premises, something Sheetz does not allow patrons to do.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court and Sheetz had resumed selling beer in late February while that appeal was pending.
We wanted Sheetz not to be able to sell beer in the way that it wanted to sell beer, said Bob Hoffman, attorney for the Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania, which represents retailers that sell beer by the case or keg. It's really just a question from our perspective of a court order taking effect while it's on appeal.
Simpson said the public interest was better served by keeping the Commonwealth Court ruling in place until the state Supreme Court rules.
Although Sheetz asserts it may lose revenue if it cannot conduct takeout salesthis loss of revenue, when weighed against the potential damage to MBDA members, is not substantial, Simpson wrote, according to the newspaper.
The Supreme Court has not indicated whether it will take the case.
In full, the Sheetz statement reads:
"We are extremely disappointed to have to tell our customers once again that beer sales have been suspended at our Convenience Restaurant in Altoona, Pa. The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has lifted an automatic stay that allowed us to continue sales while the Pennsylvania Supreme Court hears an appeal made by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
We stated before that this is another frustrating setback in our effort to provide our customers with the freedom to purchase alcoholic beverages in a convenience setting. All we are really looking for is the opportunity to give our customers the products they want. As reflected by sales of malted beverages at our Convenience Restaurant since we were first given permission to sell them in February of this year, this is certainly something a large portion of our customers want. In fact, 88% of participants surveyed on the Sheetz website have voted in support of beer sales in our stores. While we respect the decision made by the courts, it is our hope that our state legislators will accept the invitation made by the Commonwealth Court to consider modernizing the law and allow beer sales in convenience and grocery stores.
We will continue to explore all options and intend to cooperate in every way possible with the courts as well as the PLCB.
Once again, the legal issues involved here are numerous and complicated, and until further analysis is conducted, we are unable to state any detailed plan of action at this time.
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