The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) has given some Wegmans stores restaurant-type licenses that allow beer sales. But Pennsylvania Malt Beverage Distributors Association (PMBDA) president Dave Shipula said the cafe areas at Wegmans stores are more like take out shops than true eateries.
"At my beer distributorship, I have eight glass [image-nocss] doors for takeout beer. The Wegmans store near me now has 12 glass doors for takeout."
Shipula said his group's lawyer argued in court that giving those establishments beer sales licenses is a violation of state law.
The beer distributors won a similar case before Commonwealth Court regarding beer sales at Sheetz gas stations. The liquor control board and Sheetz appealed, and the suit is now pending before the State Supreme Court.
As reported in CSP Daily News, Sheetz went before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in mid-May to fight for takeout beer sales at its prototype "convenience restaurant" in Altoona, Pa.
Although the case applies to a single convenience store, the report said that many 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 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 PMBDA, which has cited business and safety concerns as reasons for trying to prevent this expansion.
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 said at the time, "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., said at the time.
Sheetz has said that it is willing to serve beer in the Altoona store if that is required.
(Click here for full CSP Daily News coverage.)
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