ALTOONA, Pa. -- Executives at Sheetz convenience stores worked long and hard to gain the right to sell alcohol beverages, and they’re not going to let the sale of what it says will be the first bottle of wine from a Pennsylvania c-store go unnoticed.
The c-store chain’s board director, Louie Sheetz, will join the state’s speaker of the house, Mike Turzai, at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, to commemorate the sale.
Both Sheetz and Turzai were instrumental in pushing for changes to the Pennsylvania Liquor Code.
Act 39, known as the "ABC and Wine Privatization Act," was approved in June and went into effect in August. It changed regulations on direct wine shipping, all-day liquor licenses for casinos, as well as expanding wine-to-go sales in groceries, convenience stores, restaurants and hotels. Customers will be able to purchase 3 liters, or four bottles of wine, in any one transaction at a c-store that holds an expanded restaurant permit.
"We have been lobbying for adult beverage sales reform for a long time," Sheetz said as long ago as 2013. “Allowing the private sector to manage the sale of alcoholic beverages is long overdue."
Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz operates more than 500 convenience stores in six states.
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