Retailers lukewarm on newest wine sales idea

In Pennsylvania, consumers go one place to buy beer and another place to buy wine and spirits.

But that could change.

As lawmakers mulled over proposals to change that system - including one as dramatic as privatizing state-run wine and spirit stores - another proposal was thrown out for consideration: giving beer distributors the ability to sell wine.

The legislation was approved by the Republican-controlled Liquor Control Committee late last year. It would allow 1,200 beer distributors to carry wine and allow distributors, bars, taverns and restaurants to sell beer in smaller quantities of six-packs and other packages. If approved, it would be the first time wine was sold by anyone other than a state agency since before Prohibition.

Beer distributors said they are both willing and able to sell wine - but it has to be worth their while. Some of the proposals Pat Flannery, owner of Flannery Case Beverage, has seen are "hare-brained," he said.

He would consider carrying other types of alcohol, but the state's proposed annual license fee and purchasing structure make it a money-losing proposition.

For example, he would have to pay $10,000 a year for the wine license, he said. Then, rather than paying the wholesale price for wine, he'd have to purchase it from the PLCB for just 9 percent off retail. He said that tiny margin and high fee makes the plan uneconomical.

"It's not worthwhile for me or anybody," he said.

On some level, having beer distributors sell other forms of alcohol makes sense, Mr. Flannery said. Beer distributors are accustomed to selling alcohol responsibly. Consumers would appreciate a one-stop shop, he said.

Some consumers agree. Tom Cechak of Scranton, making a visit to the state-run Wine & Spirits Shoppe on Meadow Avenue in Scranton, said he sees no reason why wine and beer should be sold in such different places.

"As far as alcohol products go, beer and wine are more similar than beer and spirits," he said. "People are going to spend the money anyway, so why not increase availability?"

Even though all wine would still have to be purchased through the state system, the legislator who wrote the wine-in-beer stores proposal, John Taylor, R-177, Philadelphia, said the move would create competition and "parallel systems."

Mike Turzai, R-28, Allegheny, the legislative champion for full privatization of the PLCB's retail and wholesale functions, said selling wine in beer stores will fail to bring the state's "antiquated" system into the 21st century.

He said the committee wanted to get a bill to the floor, but the final bill would have the broader.

Rochelle Stahl of Roaring Brook said making wine available in beer stores doesn't go far enough - she'd like to see the state out of the business of selling alcohol. She vacations in Florida, where wine and beer are readily available, even in supermarkets. The private sector, she said, can responsibly sell alcohol.

"This is not about IDing people," she said. "I work in the food industry and it's a business's responsibility to card people. It works fine and it will be fine if they privatize the stores."