HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A beer distributors' association asked a court Monday
to overturn a decision to allow Wegmans Food Markets Inc. to sell beer at six
Pennsylvania supermarkets.
Wegmans was issued liquor licenses on Wednesday for its stores in Bethlehem,
Dickson City, Lower Nazareth, State College, Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport.
Pennsylvania's liquor laws impose conditions for certain categories of
licenses, such as requiring food to be sold on the premises and minimum seating
capacities, so -- with a few exceptions -- supermarkets have not sold beer.
But Wegmans' supermarkets have cafes that qualify for "restaurant" licenses,
allowing beer, wine and hard liquor to be sold for consumption inside the eating
establishment, and the equivalent of 12 16-ounce containers of beer for takeout.
Wegmans' lawyer R.J. O'Hara said the chain may eventually sell wine for
on-premises consumption but has no plans to sell liquor. He said the Malt
Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania lawsuit filed in Commonwealth
Court on Monday was anticipated and may delay the start of beer sales.
"What Wegmans offers is a restaurant that happens to be based in a grocery
store," O'Hara said. "By no means is it a grocery store selling beer."
He said the company had to make changes to qualify for the licenses,
including narrowing the passageway that connects the store with the cafe. O'Hara
said customers will have to pay for their beer inside the cafe, not at normal
checkout lanes with other grocery items.
The distributors' association said the PLCB decision -- technically six
separate decisions, one for each store -- was an abuse of its discretion and
violated beer sales rules that the Legislature has passed.
"The LCB may want to update or modify or change the way beer's sold in
Pennsylvania, but that's not its job," said Bob Hoffman, the lawyer for the beer
distributors' association. "That's a legislative job."
Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans also has applications pending before the
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board for its stores in Downingtown, Erie and
Mechanicsburg. The PLCB approved beer, wine and liquor sales at a Wegmans in
Erie on Feb. 13, but that approval was not part of the malt distributors' court
action.
PLCB spokesman Nick Hays said at least two Pennsylvania grocery stores had
previously obtained "beer-only" licenses: a Weis in Tannersville and Vidalia
Market in Lansdale. Delis and other types of businesses hold the state's roughly
500 beer-only licenses.
An appeal by Sheetz Inc. of the rejection of its plan to sell takeout beer
only at a convenience store in Altoona is scheduled for oral argument before the
state Supreme Court next month. A lower court said such sales were illegal,
because the license Sheetz obtained required at least some beer to be sold for
on-premises consumption as well.
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