PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW: Sprinkled across small towns, many of them in Western Pennsylvania, 45 state-owned liquor stores lost money in the 2009-10 fiscal year, state records show.
They are part of Pennsylvania’s monopoly on wholesale and retail alcohol stores — 624 in all — which brought in more than $1.8 billion in sales of wine and spirits last year, according to the state Liquor Control Board’s records.
Opponents of a plan to privatize the system say consumers served by the unprofitable stores in towns from Irwin to Apollo and Perryopolis would miss out if the state closes all the outlets and auctions 1,250 private retail licenses to the highest bidders.
“For the pro state-store side, they can use the information to show that they are reaching populations where the private market might not seek to serve because of marginal profitability,” said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College. “Of course, those in support of selling off the stores will argue that if the market can’t support the stores by themselves, the state shouldn’t be subsidizing those operations.”… (more)
