Harrisburg – The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board today announced it will expand its recently introduced curbside pickup service to 389 more Fine Wine & Good Spirits locations across the commonwealth on Monday, April 27, to serve more customers seeking wine and spirits while maintaining social distancing practices in the interest of public health and safety.
“Beginning Monday, we’ll have 565 Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores across Pennsylvania accepting orders by phone for curbside pickup,” said PLCB Chairman Tim Holden. “We acknowledge that Pennsylvanians are frustrated with busy signals and want broader access to wine and spirits, so after learning from our experiences this past week, we’ve made improvements to process orders faster, expand the hours we take orders by phone, and be more flexible in scheduling pickups, even the same day, if pickup appointments are available.”
The expanded list of stores offering curbside service is available online. Most stores will support curbside service Monday through Saturday – taking a limited number of orders on a first-call, first-served basis beginning at 9:00 AM each day and scheduling pickup appointments between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM those days – but some stores will operate on more limited days and hours.
Each store has its own unique inventory and staff will guide callers through the products available for purchase before finalizing each order and taking payment by phone. At pickup, customers will be required to present identification before the order is delivered.
Curbside pickup orders will be limited to up to six bottles per order, and credit cards are the only accepted form of payment. Orders will also be limited to one order per caller, per store, per day, and all curbside pickup sales are final.
Stores will continue to accept the first 50 to 100 orders placed each day, on a first-call, first-served basis, until fulfillment capacity grows to accept more orders per day. Orders will only be accepted by the store’s published phone number; no orders will be accepted by email or voicemail.
“We’re making strides in expanding service to Fine Wine & Good Spirits customers, and we hope that adding hundreds more locations for curbside pickup will help us get through this surge of demand for wine and spirits,” said Holden. “Once again, we ask customers to remain patient, and we’re hopeful that the more e-commerce and curbside pickup orders we can process, over time, the better we’ll be able to serve more and more Pennsylvanians through this pandemic.”
On Monday, April 20, the first day curbside pickup was introduced at 176 Fine Wine & Good Spirts locations across Pennsylvania, the PLCB transacted nearly 6,000 curbside orders for $569,000 in sales. Tuesday, 8,000 orders for $756,000 were sold, Wednesday, 11,300 orders for $1.05 million were sold, and Thursday saw 12,800 orders for $1.27 million. In its first four days, the PLCB’s curbside pickup program sold 38,145 orders totaling $3.64 million. Sales figures are preliminary and unaudited.
The PLCB also continues to grow e-commerce sales at FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com, now with more than 100 locations picking and packing e-commerce orders. Website access continues to be randomized to avoid overwhelming the site with high traffic and prolong access throughout the day, although daily orders have increased exponentially.
Preliminary, unaudited sales figures indicate online orders from April 1 through 23 totaled 74,624 for $7.11 million. In fiscal year 2018-19, e-commerce sales between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019, totaled 39,000 orders for $5 million.
Pennsylvanians are also reminded of the following places and means for obtaining beverage alcohol during the current public health crisis.
- Nearly 1,000 licensed producers in Pennsylvania – including breweries, wineries, and distilleries – may still sell their own products for off-premises consumption.
- Restaurant and eating place licensees (bars, taverns, bottle shops, pizza/sub shops, supermarkets, convenience stores, etc.) can sell beer to go, up to 192 ounces (generally two six packs) per transaction.
- Restaurant licensees that also have wine expanded permits – including grocery stores and convenience stores – may also sell up to three liters of wine to go, per transaction.
- Beer distributors in Pennsylvania may continue sales for off-premises consumption.
- Residents remain able to purchase wine from more than 1,200 licensed direct wine shippers.
The PLCB is not considering reopening stores to the public at this time, although the agency continues to monitor the situation in consultation with the Wolf Administration and public health officials.
Consumers are reminded that the sale of alcoholic beverages without a license is strictly prohibited under Pennsylvania law.
The PLCB regulates the distribution of beverage alcohol in Pennsylvania, operates nearly 600 wine and spirits stores statewide, and licenses 20,000 alcohol producers, retailers, and handlers. The PLCB also works to reduce and prevent dangerous and underage drinking through partnerships with schools, community groups, and licensees. Taxes and store profits – totaling nearly $18.5 billion since the agency’s inception – are returned to Pennsylvania’s General Fund, which finances Pennsylvania’s schools, health and human services programs, law enforcement, and public safety initiatives, among other important public services. The PLCB also provides financial support for the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, other state agencies, and local municipalities across the state. For more information about the PLCB, visit lcb.pa.gov.
MEDIA CONTACT: Elizabeth Brassell, 717-919-1905
EDITOR’S NOTE: No media access will be granted inside Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores while they remain closed to the public. Additionally, media are encouraged to honor the following guidelines to protect Fine Wine & Good Spirits store staff and customers.
- Follow social distancing guidelines, remaining at least six feet away from any other individual.
- Respect the wishes of store staff or customers who do not want to be photographed, recorded, or approached.
- Direct all questions to the PLCB Communications Office, as store staff will be busy assisting customers.