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| Philadelphia |
The PLCB
shut down the
State Store System of Stores because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are the
ONLY control state to do so (other than Utah,
temporarily, because of an
earthquake that happened concurrently). Liquor stores
remain open in other states (because a lot of them sell booze
in grocery stores, you know, like
normal people do);
beer distributors were literally classified as
"life essential" by Governor Wolf in yesterday's
shut-down-the-state order; and of course, as we
pointed out recently, we were
told by the state that we
didn't need the
State Store System of Stores because "Individuals can still
buy wine and beer at grocery stores with PLCB licenses."
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| Wilkes-Barre |
We have
encouraged the State to
leave the stores closed. The
Distilled Spirits Council of the US and American Distilled Spirits Association has pointed out that the
current instruction leaves the
citizens unable to
buy spirits (a
completely legal product in Pennsylvania and the United States), and suggested the state at least
temporarily allow the sale of spirits at the grocery stores and beer distributors that remain open...
somewhat heroically, and I'm not kidding about that.
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| Allentown (the sawdust is a nice touch) |
I've been talking to wine and spirits wholesalers who
work with the PLCB to
supply their warehouses. They're
ready, willing, and able to
supply spirits to the grocery stores, convenience stores, and beer distributors that are
already open and selling. What's
more, they're also ready to
supply the restaurants and bars who are
eager to do
take-out beer and wine and spirits sales, just to keep their
people employed, to
literally keep their businesses from
failing. Not closing temporarily:
failing. The wholesalers
know that they can
find drivers to do the work.
The PLCB has said they could do this
(click the link, and scroll down to the 7th paragraph), but have
never shown a
bit of initiative toward
action on it.
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| Williamsport |
Has there been
any indication that the PLCB is even
considering any of this? At least
the legislature has decided to come
back to work remotely and
get something done, but you have to believe this
isn't going to be
high on their list --
and I'm not suggesting it should be. But as we saw when the Board decided that it could simply
"interpret" the hated
Case Law right out of existence by
declaring a six-pack to equal a case, the courts give the PLCB
very broad latitude indeed on "interpretation" of
The Almighty Liquor Code (had we mentioned that the PLCB
has its own courts?). They could easily
rule on all of this stuff, and let the
Legislature catch up.
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| Also Philly |
No. The
Board, the
Governor, the
Department of Community and Economic Development have done
nothing about this,
none of the really
easy steps that would take
some of the
stress off businesses, and extend some
fairness to the
folks in the spirits production chain (who also
need gainful employment), and let those of us who
might want a
whiskey sour or Bloody Mary (or
quarantini, which is apparently
a thing) buy a bottle or two.
What
are they doing?
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| Harrisburg |
In a state where the last
large scale riots were
over fifty years ago, the PLCB
decided to
raise public morale with this
amazing display of optimistic trust. Because
nothing says "it may be
rough, but we're going to get through this
together" like
boarding up your store...in Williamsport.
This
lack of leadership, lack of
understanding, lack of
common good sense is
just another example of what an
awful mistake having this
all-too-independent state agency in charge of
retail stores has been. The Legislature should, in the
spare ten minutes it would take, use this opportunity to say, 'Okay,
that's enough. You had your chance, more than enough chances, and that's it. Game over, PLCB. You're done.'
Even better? It
really would only take
ten minutes. The Legislature actually drew up plans back in 1987 to end the
State Store System of Stores and those plans, never enacted, are
still available online in the
Pennsylvania Code...ready to roll.
Here's the plan; your predecessors already did the work for you. Literally all you should have to do is
change the dates and vote.
Because
all the PLCB is going to do in this crisis is
protect themselves. Apparently they think
Pennsylvania is
France. We deserve a lot better than this.
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| Paris |
