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What most of the country considers normal. We could have substituted any number of stores for Total Wine here: Spec's, Binny's, K&L, Federal, Liquor Barn, and on and on.
Something we read in a recent letter about the State Store System in a Pennsylvania newspaper really resonates. The writer pointed out the problems with the system, the proposed "modernization" non-solutions, and wound up with something brilliant.
End it, don't mend it.
We couldn't agree more.
Liquor Barn was owned by Safeway originally which is an AWFUL supermarket chain... and has never been otherwise. Lew, do you remember when the Genuardi's in your town (which I will not name) was bought by Safeway? They did a nice job remodeling it but ruined all the family touches that once made Genuardi's a truly special chain. McCaffrey's though has restored this particular location to its former glory. Luckily Giant was blocked from buying this location for antitrust reasons.
ReplyDeleteI bring all this up because I have a feeling Safeway will open liquor stores in PA under privatization. Hopefully not. Those stores would totally suck, just like the A&P that now is both the wine/spirits store and beer store in your town.
The big question I have is: after years of spinning their wheels, why haven't the advocates of privatization (like the Republican Party!) made a commercial of their own? As disgusting as the union's commercial (which seemed like something from Mad TV) was, why has the anti-PLCB, anti-UFCW movement ever advertised their cause? Many Pennsylvanians I've met seem ignorant of the whole privatization discussion, so an ad blitz I think is in order.
ReplyDeleteI voted for Nader in 2000 and 2004. It's a shame he (a consumer watchdog genius) isn't a Pennsylvanian. He would have a field day tearing apart the PLCB and UFCW.
Unlike the state stores you wouldn't HAVE to go to a Safeway if you didn't want to. Freedom of Choice is just one of a long list of things denied us by the PLCB.
ReplyDeleteTwo simple reasons. Despite the claims of PLCB partisans, there are no "deep pocket" groups on the side of normalization efforts to fund such a commercial.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, that's because the PLCB has historically been a vindictive bureaucracy that has "punished" groups that opposed it. Their monopoly gives them the power to do that, another reason they should go away.
Oh, and I have no problem with Liquor Barn. They kick the PLCB's ass, for one thing, and they're big without being "big box" in attitude or design. I like stopping at Liquor Barn, and usually do at some point in trips to Kentucky.
ReplyDeleteNo argument on the characterization of what happened at the Genuardi's in Newtown, though. (I don't mind saying where I live, but thanks for the consideration.)
There isn't an ad blitz because of money just like anything else. While the unionist keep saying private business wants to take selling liquor away from the state there is no concerted effort to do so.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Washington there is no Costco driving the train here because while Costco is making money it will be a very long time before they recoup their investment. It was personal in Washington, Jim Sinegal was going to break the monopoly. We need somebody along those lines who is finally fed up with this crappy system and is willing to do something about it.
If I ever hit the lotto in a major way the state stores will fall, that I guarantee.