Pa. court OKs beer sales at cafes run by Wegmans
BY MARK SCOLFORO
ASSOCIATED Puss WRITER
Beer sales at restaurants run
by the Wegmans supermarket
chain got court approval Monday
in a ruling that expands where
Pennsylvania consumers can buy
take-out alcohol.
The unanimous
decision in
Commonwealth Court
allows patrons to
bypass the übiquitous
beer distributors that
dominate the state's
take-out market and
where customers
have to purchase beer
by the case.
The court rejected
arguments by the
state beer retailers'
association that
Wegmans Food
Markets Inc. created
a "legal fiction" by
routing suds sales
through cafes that are
attached by an interior
passageway to their
grocery stores.
Attorney Robert
Hoffman said the Pennsylvania
Malt Beverage Distributors
Association would appeal the
Penny stocks? Small change for big-name companies
By MARK 'WILLIAMS
AP BUSINESS WRITER
What costs more a spark plug
or a share of General Motors? A
Sunday New York Times or a
share of the newspaper company?
A General Electric toaster or a
share of GE?
In the surest sign of the depth
of the recession, the products
associated with these high-profile
companies now cost more than
buying a piece of the business.
Shares of some of the most
renowned companies have
come under assault as the
worst recession in decades saps
investor confidence and drags
major stock indexes to their
lowest levels since 1997. Despite
Tuesday's 3 percent gain, the
Dow Jones industrial average is
still off almost 50 percent from
its 2007 high and there's little
evidence it's hit bottom.
decision to the state Supreme
Court. The distributors have
invested in their businesses and
could face considerable losses if
regulations are changed by the
courts, he said.
"I'm not sure that this opinion
really grapples with what
we thought were the central
questions, which is, is this the
way the Pennsylvania Legislature
intended beer to be sold in
Pennsylvania?" Hoffman said.
"This is a time for the history
books," said Jim Coons of Coons
Advisors, a financial consultant.
When the housing bubble began
to burst, share prices began
to cascade
first in the
homebuilding
industry, but it
spread quickly
to almost every
sector of the
economy.
Today, a share
of Hovnanian,
one of the
nation's largest
builders, can
be had for 96
cents, less than
it costs for a set
of spare house
keys.
Banks, stung
by plummeting
mortgage
values,
followed. A
Wegmans lawyer R.J. O'Hara
said a limit of two six-packs on
take-out purchases will ensure
that grocery-linked restaurants
will not devastate business at
beer distributors.
"We're still not like a lot of
other states where you can buy
unlimited quantities of beer in a
grocery store," O'Hara said.
Hoffman said the grant of
licenses to Wegmans,.if allowed
to stand, will prompt other types
share of Citigroup Inc. which
cost $55.66 at the beginning of
2007, now costs $2.60. ATM fees
can total $3 or more for using an
out-of-network bank card.
of businesses to look for ways to
add take-out beer sales to their
bottom line.
"It really has the potential to
transform how Pennsylvania
consumers buy beer in bulk for
home consumption," he said.
The ruling upheld license
approvals by the Pennsylvania
Liquor Control Board for
Wegmans stores
in Bethlehem and
Williamsport. The
ruling apparently
also pertains to beer
sales at Wegmans'
restaurants
attached to stores
in Dickson City,
Lower Nazareth,
State College and
Wilkes-Barre,
although the court
said ' it would
issue, separate
opinions for each
of those license
applications.
Additionally,
Wegmans
"restaurant"
for
licenses
Warrington,
Allentown,
Collegeville, Downingtown,
Mechanicsburg and two cafes
in Erie. Restaurant-category
Since the start of 2007, shares
in companies from every sector
have been hit.
General Motors shares have
fallen from $30.30 to $2.22, less
than the cost
of a standard
spark plug
(about $3.79).
New York
Times Co.
shares have
fallen from
$24.27 to
$3.95, cheaper
than the $4 cost
of its Sunday
edition.
Electric Co.
shares fell
from $30.30 to
$9.08, cheaper
than a GE two
slice bagel
toaster at Wal-
Mart, selling
Tuesday on the
liquor licenses alloW beer, wine
and hard liquor to be sold for
drinking at the restaurant and the
equivalent of 12 16-ounce beers
per customer for takeout.
O'Hara said the only Wegmans
where wine and liquor will be sold,
at least for now, is Collegeville.
Even in Collegeville, wine and
liquor will not be available for
takeout.
Many Pennsylvania restaurants
and pizza shops sell take-out beer
as six-packs or twelve-packs.
In the past, the agency has also
granted take-out licenses for other
types of retail establishments
the Wanamaker department store
chain, for example, once held
about a dozen retail licenses.
"There hasn't been a change in
the law, there hasn't been a change
in restaurant licenses, there hasn't
been a change in the LCB policy,"
said liquor board spokesman
Nick Hays. "What has happened
is some of these stores have made
business decisions to incorporate
full-service restaurants in their
businesses."
Weis Markets Inc. has two active
licenses and five that are inactive
or in the application stage, Hays
said.
pursuing
The board is also reviewing an
application for - a restaurant liquor
license at Thomas Family Market
in Dallas.
clearance rack for $l2
Office Depot is down from
$38.27 to $1.26, less than a 12-
pack of medium point Papermate
Ball Point Stick Pens which runs
$1.89.
US Airways has fallen from
$53.89 to $3.66, less than the
current $4 cost of two in-flight
coffees
The bargain-basement stock
prices of America's best known
companies present either the
greatest opportunity of a lifetime
or the biggest money pit this
side of the Great Depression.
Of course, many didn't survive
then and many won't survive
now. Someone who bought
shares of Circuit City, which
cost $5.75 before the one-time
retailing bellwether announced
it would close, would have been
better off buying a four-pack of
AA batteries.
General
The company is now selling
furniture and fixtures from its
headquarters as it liquidates.