HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Ohio Springs Inc., a subsidiary of Sheetz Inc., has filed an appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to a lower court ruling that had temporarily stopped beer sales at the Sheetz Inc. convenience store and restaurant in the company's home base of Altoona, Pa.
Ohio Springs, which holds the Sheetz beer license, filed two motions, Mike Cortez, Sheetz vice president and general counsel, told The Altoona Mirror.
We respondedthat the stay should not be lifted and we should be able to continue to sell beer while [image-nocss] the Supreme Court decides what to do, Cortez told the newspaper. The other provides additional information for the Supreme Court to look at while it decides what to do.
Ohio Springs' appeal is the latest legal salvo in a three-year battle to sell beer and coolers at the Sheetz store. Commonwealth Court halted beer sales February 23 after hearing arguments from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) and the Malt Beverages Distributors Association (MBDA) of Pennsylvania.
The PLCB appealed to the Supreme Court on February 28, a move that restarted beer sales. Distributors have asked the Commonwealth Court to stop sales for a second time while the appeal moves forward. They claimed that Sheetz's beer license required the c-store chain to sell malt products for onsite consumptionan argument a majority of the lower court accepted.
Sheetz said it wouldn't sell beer for onsite consumption, but may do so if required.
At least one state lawmaker is looking at whether legislation is needed in response to issues raised in the Sheetz case, said the report. State Senator John Rafferty (R) told the Associated Press after a hearing Tuesday that the General Assembly may want to clarify rules about the physical barriers required to separate grocery areas from restaurants with beer sales licenses. It does have to be a wall, said Rafferty, chairman of the Law & Justice Committee. It can't be a wall with crackers.
Sheetz made changes to the store and its business records to win the license. The records of the two businesses are kept separately, and the gasoline business is separated from the store through separate deeds. Physical alterations include a speed bump as a separation barrier between the fuel island and the store.
Beer also is sold at a Weis Markets Inc.-owned Mr. Z's store in Tannersville, Pa. Wegmans Food Markets Inc. wants to sell beer at its 11 Pennsylvania stores, including State College, the report said.
There is no reason to treat restaurants located in supermarkets any differently from restaurants located in malls, shopping plazas or elsewhere, Craig Hoffman, who runs operations for Wegmans' Pennsylvania stores, told the Mirror.
PLCB member Thomas Goldsmith said that over the years, his agency has approved dozensperhaps hundredsof requests for interior connections to let customers walk from where beer is sold into some other establishment or a different part of the business. Those requests have included gas stations, delis, grocery stores, c-stores, bakeries and gift-and-antique shops.
But others said they were worried that selling more beer at c-stores or supermarkets might harm existing beer purveyors, increase drunken-driving rates and lead to more underage drinking.
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