PENNSYLVANIA State liquor stores to open in up to 7 supermarkets

The move is an attempt to make liquor purchase more convenient.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Supermarket owners are clamoring to put state-owned liquor stores within their walls, and as many as seven markets will get their wish by early next year, the chairman of Pennsylvania's Liquor Control Board said.
Board chairman Jonathan Newman said he expects "six or seven" supermarkets to have the state stores, and that most of the interest has come from supermarkets in the Pittsburgh and greater Philadelphia areas.
It's even possible that some of the stores could open by November or December -- in time for the holiday spirits season -- although Newman said that remains "a long shot."
"It takes a long time logistically to sign the lease, to advertise it, to get the store up and running, to reconfigure" the supermarket's interior, Newman said Friday, while videotaping a public affairs show in Pittsburgh, "KD/PG Sunday Edition." The show, jointly produced by KDKA-TV and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, airs at 11 a.m. today on KDKA.
Newman said LCB needs about 2,500 to 3,000 square feet within a supermarket for each liquor and wine store.
Customers will pay for their liquor purchases separately, at cash registers within the state stores, which will be manned by LCB -- not supermarket -- employees.
"I think you're going to see some leases signed this year and some stores open in early 2004," Newman said.
Other plans
Putting liquor and wine in supermarkets is just one of several changes Newman, a Montgomery County attorney, is making in an attempt to boost liquor sales in the state.
Statistics show that Pennsylvania tends to lose liquor and wine sales to neighboring states because the state store system has made it inconvenient to buy spirits, Newman said.
Pennsylvania ranks 26th in per capita beer consumption, 37th in per capita wine consumption and 48th -- ahead of only Utah and West Virginia -- in liquor consumption.
"Delaware is the fourth largest [in per capita liquor sales]. It's because Pennsylvanians, in the past, have gone to Delaware," Newman said. "We are bleeding business to Delaware and New Jersey."
Another part of Newman's efforts to stem the tide of drinkers who go out of state are so-called "border stores" that have opened in places like Hermitage, Mercer County, near the Ohio border, and in parts of Northeast Philadelphia, close to New Jersey. The stores offer products not sold in other state stores to draw customers from neighboring states.