We were having lunch in Towson, MD the other day and, arriving a bit early, decided to see what the private liquor store next store had to offer in the way of wines. The selection was sparse as compared to a typical PA State Store, and especially the one on Fruitville Pike.
Even on the posh Upper West Side of New York City, the finest stores are not much superior to the Fruitville Pike store for choice and service, although they do offer some different brands. But so do the PA state stores. And most of the West Side stores are inferior due to limitted stocks.
Our experience has been very positive as a once a month shopper. Pennsylvania State Stores are fast, clean, friendly, offer a big selection, it is reasonably easy to find got what we are looking, and there is a good selection in most cases (if you don’t look for a quality dry sherry, but we couldn’t find that in Towson either.)
Moreover, we pass by three State Stores over the course of a few days, so there is nothing inconvenient about shopping.
Should beer be sold in super markets by six packs and cases? We think yes. We don’t understand the need to have separate distributors.
We are old enough to recall when one had to choose from a long paper list and place order over the counter with clerks (some of whom were surly) who then fetched the bottles. Of course this was nutty, inconvenient and unpleasant. But that is not the situation today.
If it ain’t broke, let’s not try to fix it. We will only make the likes of Fast Eddy, Slick Tom and their greedy special interests even richer.
Fast Eddy, Slick Tom? I like it.
I don’t doubt Newslanc’s shopping experience. I, on the other hand, need to drive 14 miles (round trip) to reach the closest liquor store (and it’s in MD). Privatization provides more private sector jobs. New Jersey, for example, has 3 times the number of liquor stores (1800) as PA (621). Stated another way, NJ has 1 store for every 4340 residents while PA has 1 store for every 20,450 residents. As an aside, according to the NHTSA, NJ experiences about half the number of alcohol related traffic fatalities (NJ 17/1 million residents) (PA 32.2/million residents). It’s time for the state to get out of the alcohol business and focus on the core of residents needs.
EDITOR: Before we had super markets, we had small food stores every few blocks. Over a couple of decades the number of small food stores were replaced with a far lesser number of super markets. Seems like people prefer the large selections and better shopping experience. Also, this is the first argument we have encountered for some time (outside of India) for embracing inefficiency to generate jobs.