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Hallelujah, Wegman's Jesus triumphs over distributors' Pilate
Today, from the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Hallelujah, Wegman's Jesus triumphs over distributors' Pilate
Today, from the Philadelphia Inquirer:
HARRISBURG - Beer sales at restaurants run by the Wegmans supermarket chain got Commonwealth Court approval yesterday in a ruling that expands where Pennsylvania consumers can buy take-out alcohol.
The court unanimously rejected arguments by the Pennsylvania Malt Beverage Distributors Association that Wegmans Food Markets Inc. had created a "legal fiction" by routing beer sales through cafes attached by an interior passageway to their grocery stores.
The association will appeal to the state Supreme Court, attorney Robert Hoffman said.
Wegmans attorney R.J. O'Hara said a limit of two six-packs on take-out purchases would ensure that grocery-linked restaurants would not devastate business at beer distributors.
"We're still not like a lot of other states where you can buy unlimited quantities of beer in a grocery store," O'Hara said.
Hoffman said the grant of licenses to Wegmans would prompt other types of businesses to look for ways to add take-out beer sales to their bottom line.
"It really has the potential to transform how Pennsylvania consumers buy beer in bulk for home consumption," he said.
This just goes to show that Wegman's is indeed the savior from upstate New York. No matter how much the monopoly-fat distributors whine, cry and appeal to the state supreme court, one day in the near future you will be able to walk out of the supermarket with the makings of pork loin roasted with fennel and pears, and a nice sixer of Anchor Steam to drink with it.
I hope that New York State has the good sense to keep the wine sales laws in New York State just as they are. This greedy big box store and others like them are only looking to increase their own profits at the hands of small mom and pop businesses and New York state wineries -- and most importantly, at the increased risk of alcohol related fatalities in the state. That's why no state has passed anything like this in the past 23 years and why every law enforcement group in the state has come out in opposition of this bad legislation.
Give me a break about the whines of the small mom and pop shops. My local liquor store owner got shut down after selling to underage agents for the third time. When's the last time Wegmans got busted for the same? If mom and pop shops can't compete, and can't offer the selection consumers want, that's tough.
NY State Wineries would love the sales boost from being in Grocery and the way that Wegmans educates their customers on wine and food pairings, even the small liquor stores will see a benefit. Good for Wegmans and good the the NY consumers if they are given more choices of where to buy what they wnat.
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