[lbo-talk] Pennsylvanians enjoy newfound freedom

Leigh Meyers leighcmeyers at gmail.com
Sun Sep 4 08:49:02 PDT 2005


Gotta fight.... for your right... to PARTTTTTYYYYY!

The Sacramento Bee: Pennsylvania allows Sunday beer sales By MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press Writer Published 11:12 am PDT Saturday, September 3, 2005

http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/nation/story/2685910p-11221741c.html

CAMP HILL, Pa. (AP) - Enjoying a cold beer is getting a little easier in Pennsylvania this holiday weekend, but only a little. Under new state laws in effect this weekend, Jim Yaple, president of Westy Beer Distributor, is among 800 distributors now allowed for the first time to sell beer by the case on Sundays - in the afternoon.

Still in place, however, are many of the state's oddball beer-sales laws. For instance, consumers who want to drink a frosty one at home basically have two choices - either pick up a case from a distributor like Westy or get no more than two six-packs - nothing larger - from a tavern or restaurant.

"I was for Sunday sales, but I also want to see a 12-pack or a 15-pack or an 18-pack for distributors to sell," Yaple said.

Still, while he and the state's other distributors want the additional business from being open on Sundays, Yaple worries the state is headed toward further blue-law changes that might hurt his bottom line.

"I think that eventually, down the road, we're going to see beer in grocery stores," Yaple said.

It's only been two years since Pennsylvania joined a national trend toward liberalization of blue laws when it began selling wine and liquor at selected state-owned stores on Sundays, one of 13 states to enact such changes since 2002.

Then, in July, Pennsylvania's Legislature gave the state's 1,303 beer distributors the option of opening on Sunday afternoons. Nearly 800 have applied for a permit.

While it allows Sunday sales, the law prohibits around-the-clock beer sales by forcing distributors to close for the rest of the week between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m., although almost no stores had been staying open all night.

Newtown beer expert Lew Bryson, author of "Pennsylvania Breweries," said further changes are unlikely. "I think it's the last thing that the distributors are going to get out of the Legislature for a while. They cut the tavern owners a deal on this, the Legislature did, and the tavern owners were just barely satisfied with it. If you're thinking of 12-packs or six-packs at beer distributors, keep dreaming," he said.

Beer sales have been falling steadily in Pennsylvania in recent years - down 1.5 percent for the first six months of this year compared to a year ago - and the Pennsylvania Beer Wholesalers Association hopes Sunday hours will be a shot in the arm.

"It finally puts Pennsylvania on a competitive edge, you might say, with some of our neighboring states that ... have always had the ability to sell on Sunday," said association president Jay Wiederhold. The state senator who sponsored the new law, Sean F. Logan, said he acted to let beer stores do what restaurants and state liquor stores were already doing.

"It's like saying barbershops can be open, but beauty shops can't. Everything wasn't equal," he said. Some welcome the new law and others, for religious reasons, would prefer blue laws be reinstated, not eliminated, as Yaple heard Monday from one customer at his Camp Hill store.

"Sunday is the Sabbath day, she feels," he said. "We both go to the same church."

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