The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced it continues to expand access to wine and spirits to retail customers and licensees, all while maintaining social distancing and other Pennsylvania Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention best practices in the interest of public health and safety.
Licensee Sales
The PLCB has resumed fulfillment of retail licensees’ orders for wine and spirits through its network of 13 licensee service centers and 580 Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores.
Following Pennsylvania’s three-phased (red, yellow, green) approach to determine when counties are ready to begin easing some restrictions and allow certain business operations to resume, the PLCB is providing guidance to licensees on protocols the PLCB will follow in fulfilling licensee orders in the various phases.
Depending on where the licensee’s designated pickup location is, and that region’s color designation, requirements for licensee pickup orders may include placing orders online, touchless payment, restricted or limited access to PLCB facilities, and social distancing.
Curbside Pickup
The six-bottle limit on curbside orders increased to 12 units per order. Curbside pickup is available at 580 stores, including locations throughout Bucks County. Only four Fine Wine & Good Spirits retail stores temporarily closed for renovations aren’t offering curbside pickup.
Curbside pickup sales, which began with 176 store locations across Pennsylvania on April 20 and expanded to 565 stores on April 27, total 213,433 orders for $17.41 million, including sales tax, according to preliminary, unaudited figures through April 30. Weekly sales growth is: April 20-25, 66,959 orders for $6.42 million; April 27-30, 146,474 orders for $10.99 million.
A list of stores offering curbside service is available at lcb.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx.
Most stores support curbside service Monday through Saturday – taking a limited number of orders on a first-call, first-served basis beginning at 9 a.m. each day and scheduling pickup appointments between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. those days – but some stores will operate on more limited days and hours. Many stores are continuing to take calls after 1 p.m., as they are able to continue fulfilling curbside pickup orders.
All retail stores remain closed for public entry at this time, although additional information regarding store operations in counties moving from red to yellow on May 8 will be provided soon.
Online Sales
According to preliminary, unaudited figures, e-commerce sales at FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com from April 1-30 total 116,680 orders for $11.14 million, excluding sales tax. In fiscal year 2018-19, e-commerce sales between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019 totaled 39,000 orders for $5 million. Online weekly sales are: April 1-7, 7,778 orders for $707,666; April 8-14, 10,852 orders for $1.05 million; April 15-21, 45,979 orders for $4.39 million; April 22-28, 38,048 orders for $3.65 million.
Special Orders
The PLCB also resumed fulfillment of Special Orders, which are items not stocked by the PLCB, for licensees last week. Special Orders are processed through 14 PLCB locations across the state. Preliminary, unaudited Special Order sales from April 22-30 total 562 orders for $920,636, excluding sales tax, and weekly sales are: April 22-28, 485 orders for $817,088; April 28-30, 77 orders for $103,548.
