Posts Tagged ‘state store’
It’s funny how you can go to another state and see how the rest of the world lives. Roads are paved. Curbs are on all the sidewalks, and freshly paved highways. Sales tax on everything and most of all liquor at “Target”! They had a better selection of wine than most PA State Stores. There was no stupid machine that dispensed a limited selection of wines. Yes a department store sold alcohol. There was no fear of a person buying alcohol illegally. They had premium wines, middle of the road and low end wines. I was really impressed with the convenience and customer service. Why is Pennsylvania so slow in adopting customer friendly liquor regulations? If we could have a nice road system and a improvements to our state budget, let private industry have it and tax it. Reap the rewards of private industry doing things the right way!
I read in the paper that the state has taken it’s wine machines offline. It’s about time. I would really love to know
who’s idea that was to begin with. We were recently in Ohio at a Whole Foods and I could not belive the selection of wine they
had. They had more wines available than any of our local state stores, including Clarks Summit. Truly amazing how two states can be so different in the laws that regulate the sale of liquor. I am a big fan of letting private industry handle the products. It works fine for beer, so let’s give wine a shot at being sold in all groceries.
All I wanted was a bottle of Chablis. It is my favorite wine to deglaze my pan. So we drive to the State Store in Dickson City. Much to our surprise at 7:39 pm it was closed. Sure it was a Monday? We go back to Wegmans to try the new wine machine. There was a woman there to help with your purchase. We looked at the machine and checked out how the machine works. You are required to blow into a area covered by a screen on the front of the machine before the purchase is complete. The touch screen was easy to operate and there initially appeared to be a pretty good selection. You could choose the type of wine you wanted, red, white, etc. I scrolled looking for a wine that would be great for my needs. Oh sorry. They didn’t have it.
My recommendations would be to make the state stores be competitive and have hours that are convenient to consumers. Open the stores later and remain open later. Try being open on Sundays. I shouldn’t have to drive to the next town to buy a bottle of wine. If the State can’t do it sell off the stores and allow the free market control it. Beer is sold in numerous stores successfully now let’s open the market to the grocery stores and let them decide what day and time is convenient. And I I did buy cooking wine from Wegmans. I just read the bottle…10% alcohol. Maybe they should put it in their wine vending machine.
On a recent trip to Wegmans I decided to take a peak at the new wine selection and look at the machine that dispenses the product. It was impressive and was closed when I was shopping. The beer department was open. ITools think that when one is open the other would be open as well. The system is very odd to say the least. The new machine is computer controlled and is quite obtrusive. Each bottle is difficult to see. All I wanted was a bottle of Chablis and I couldn’t get it. As far as I am concerned send this Jetson Space Age machine packing and allow the stores to just sell alcohol just like the rest of the world. Just my opinion nobody asked!
Saturday night in Scranton and we were ready to hit the town. We were up at the mall doing some pre Christmas shopping. My wife suggested we go home for dinner and I remembered my story a couple weeks ago about Taco Bell and the lack of one at our mall. So I suggested we take a ride to the Summit. The ride through the speed trap in Chinchilla brought us first to the State Store. It is by far the nicest State Store in the area. They almost have the feel of a regular liquor store located in every other place in the world. I am curious to see what the State plans on doing with our antiquated State Store system. Spending time in all of our surrounding states allows me to say I truly like being able to buy wine and beer at the grocery. Put a vote to it and the State Store is done. So back in our car we go to Taco Bell. They have a few new menu items. The classics for me is all that matters. Burrito, tacos and nacho supreme. Food was made in less than a minute. The cashier was nice, and I asked her a question about something to see if she had any idea of the food and menu. She went and found out the answer. Taco Bell does not have a gluten free menu for those interested. The website does have limited allergy information. A nice meal well prepared and served fresh. Thumbs up! Dessert in the Summit is only one choice on a cold night. Krispy Kreme.
