Last call! Liquor stores prepare to shut down

HAVERFORD » A crowd of people stood in line Sunday morning for the 11 a.m. opening of the Pennsylvania Wine and Spirits shop in Manoa Shopping Center, responding to the recent announcement by the Pennsylvania Liquor and Control Board of a phased closure of its state stores in the area. All Delaware County stores are closing on Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day, as part of COVID-19 mitigation.

On Monday, in Delaware County, only seven stores will be open, including the 5035 Township Line Road store in Drexel Hill; 1083 W. Baltimore Pike store in Media; the Brandywine Mills, 1751 Wilmington Pike store in Glen Mills; 3735 West Chester Pike store in Newtown Square; 127 W. Lancaster

Ave. store in Wayne; 149 Baltimore Pike store in Springfield; and the 629 Parkway Drive store in Broomall.

The mood was relaxed as the line stretched to 60-75 people.

“I’m just going to stock up to have some in reserve,” said Diane of Haverford, who did not care to give her full name. She was the first person to start the line at 10 a.m.. “They’re closed indefinitely, so that is concerning, we’re stocking up and going from there.”

“I don’t need to eat, as long as we can drink,” joked Josephine Desiderio, who came from Ardmore, where she found even longer lines. Her spirit of choice was wine and vodka. “I have adult children so we go through a lot. When I’m done, I’ll have to hit the Acme for tonic. I’ll be a lot better once it opens. Then I won’t have to leave the house at all. We can manage, I’m sure.”

“I live just down the street, shame on me if I got here late today, if I didn’t get anything,” said Mike. C. as he waited.

“It never goes bad,” Bill Taylor of Haverford. “It never hurts to have a little extra in the house.”

“It could be worse - we could be dead,” chuckled Wayne Koch of Havertown who was picking up some whiskey. “I’ll get some Canadian Gold whiskey, I mix it with ginger ale.”

Koch had already dodged one COVID-19 high risk group; he had just come back from a cruise to the Caribbean.

“They were constantly cleaning, anything people touched. We had a good time but I’m not going to do a cruise again until this thing gets straightened out,” he said.

One woman stood back from the crowd. As the doors opened, she hustled in and was quickly back outside. “I knew what I wanted. I’m very cautious,” she said as she hurried away.

The consensus of one group in line was vodka was the drink of choice under the circumstances.

“There is a lot of different things you can do with it, mix it, cook with it, you can shoot it” said one gentleman, who did not wish to be identified.

One gentleman, who also did not wish to be identified, was critical as he passed the line saying, “They are doing the exact wrong thing, they are not keeping any distance from each other.”

That person was not alone in this thinking. Many bars and restaurants are deciding to shutter for a while. Ashley and Matthew Ernst, who own

Matthew’s Tavern in Norwood, plan on closing for two weeks.

“We never close. We are a small corner tavern, “Ashley Ernst said. “We open at 7 a.m. and close at 2 a.m. Everybody knows everybody. We care about our regulars and the community as a whole. This will be a huge loss for us, for our five employees. We feel it’s the responsible and proactive way to behave during this crisis.”

They are urging other tavern and bars to do the same.

“We never close. People were kind of rolling their eyes, but for the greater good, we need to pull the plug and hunker down,” Ernst said. “We’re hoping it’s just a couple of weeks. That will have the effect. We’d like to stay open. This is going to be a hit for us, but we’re hoping we can get everybody together as community.” Late Sunday evening Gov.Wolf banned all bars and dine-in facilities to close with the exception of take-out for the next two weeks.

The State liquor store on Baltimore Pike in Media was also busy Sunday.

“It was super crowded. Some people are freaking out more than others,” said Jack Pokorny of Swarthmore. “It’s interesting to see how people react to what’s essential vs. non essential and what is being turned out by the state. It depends on how you want people to react I guess, in the long run.”

“I got some Irish whiskey for St. Patty’s Day and vodka,” said Jamal Johnson of Wallingford. “Everybody is behaving, everybody is nice but I think they see it’s going to be a run on it later on. Maybe tomorrow, not so nice.”