Lining up at liquor stores: Customers turn up at reopened shops
A few snow flurries couldn’t keep customers from standing in line Friday afternoon at state-run Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores in the northern Pennsylvania counties included in the yellow phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s reopening plan.
At about 1 p.m., the line at the state liquor store in Grove City, Mercer County, averaged around 10 people — all socially distanced from one another and wearing masks or the occasional bandanna. The line stayed a consistent length over the next hour, as employees kept customers flowing in and out of the store at a steady pace.
Jill King, of Sewickley, originally had gone over to the nearby Grove City Premium Outlets to buy a pair of running shoes, but the store she wanted to go to was closed. Instead of going home empty-handed, she drove less than 10 minutes from the outlet mall to the liquor store.
“It was kind of a bust,” Ms. King said, in reference to buying shoes. “But I was excited to get out. I’m happy this [stay-at-home order] is over.”
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board closed all of its stores in mid-March as part of the effort to slow the spread of the COVID-19 disease. It resumed some online sales in early April and then began offering curbside pickup. Under the red-yellow-green system Pennsylvania has put in place to start allowing businesses to reopen, some restrictions are being eased in places like Mercer and Lawrence counties.
Like Ms. King, Terrill Miller made a pit stop at the Grove City store to pick up a few bottles of whiskey after he finished his deliveries as a truck driver. The liquor store near his home in Oakdale is still subject to the restrictions of being in a county in the state’s red zone.
While he was happy to be able to stock up on liquor supplies, Mr. Miller is still on the fence about Allegheny County opening up in the same way. “It might be too soon,” he said.
Throughout the stay-athome order, Mr. Miller has continued working as a truck driver — traveling to places in West Virginia and Ohio. “At first, it was a little scary, but there’s not much interaction with other people when you’re making deliveries since you go to the back of stores,” he said.
Angie Adresky, of Volant, Lawrence County, initially called the state liquor store to ask if she could order alcohol with curbside pickup. An employee told her the store had reopened to customers.
Before Friday, Ms. Adresky found creative ways to get alcohol — from traveling to stores in Ohio to getting liquor from her friends who traveled to different states for their jobs as truck drivers.
Since she had to temporarily stop coming in to work as a housekeeper at Grove City College, Ms. Adresky mainly has been spending her time staying home with her husband and two daughters.
Now that her county is in the yellow phase, she is looking forward to seeing her friends and grandparents — once everyone is comfortable and ready to see each other. She and her husband both have birthdays in May, and the plan is to kayak with a few friends down the Allegheny River from Emlenton to Parker next week to celebrate.
“Kayaking is already supposed to be 10 feet apart, so I think it’s the best way to slowly get back to seeing other people,” Ms. Adresky said.
At the Fine Wine & Good Spirits store in Union Square in New Castle, Lawrence County, customers were able to get in quickly at around 2 p.m. without a line.
Taylor Stafford, of New Castle, stopped by in preparation of driving to Myrtle Beach, S.C., later that day with friends. “I’d rather use the curbside pickup since I got used to it,” Ms. Stafford said. “But I’m glad we’re getting things back in motion, and I’m glad everything is opening back up.”
At the state liquor store in New Castle’s Lawrence Village Plaza, a small line of around five to 10 people stood outside at around 2:30 p.m.
Carolyn Sroka, of Ellwood City, was one of around 10 people waiting to get inside. Ms. Sroka said she heard the store was open from one of her friends and decided to head over to check it out.
Overall, reopening businesses in Lawrence County has been great news for her and her friends and family. “We’re ready to go outside,” Ms. Sroka said. “Everyone, I think, is tired of being inside and not being able to do things.”
Shawn Kelly, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, received updates from people throughout the day on the status of reopening the stores.
While he won’t get detailed sales data until Saturday, Mr. Kelly said he’d heard there has been an increase of customer traffic into the evening.
“From what I’ve been hearing, people seem to be very understanding of the new reality in which we now operate and very appreciative of the fact that we’re now reopening,” he said. “Ever since we figured a way to smartly and safely close our stores in the middle of March, we’ve been figuring out a way to reopen them smartly and safely.”
The stores have installed Plexiglas in front of registers, put signs on the floors to make aisles one way and added signs encouraging customers to only touch a bottle if they are buying it.
Mr. Kelly said it’s hard to say how long the new systems will be in place. “We’re continuing to follow the guidance of the Pennsylvania Department of Health. This is uncharted territory for us.”