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Something new in store: beer Lititz will hold hearing on Weis Markets request for a cafe BY CINDY STAUFFER
Staff Writer
WYOMISSING -- You could soon buy a six-pack along with your milk, eggs and bread at a Lancaster County supermarket.
Weis Markets is seeking to become the first grocery store in the county to sell beer, at its Lititz store.
"Beer is a natural extension of what we sell," said Dennis Curtin, spokesman for the Sunbury-based supermarket chain, which already sells beer in 15 other stores in the state. "Beer and food complement each other perfectly. Lititz has a good store and it will help us stand out in terms of one-stop shopping convenience."
At its other cafes, such as the one in Wyomissing, Weis sells hundreds of different beers -- everything from Lancaster Brewing Company's Hop Hog IPA to the Japanese beer Sapporo -- from stocked coolers and shelves in a corner of the store featuring both neon beer signs and tables, where patrons cab sit and drink a beer.
The borough will hold a public hearing later this month on the supermarket's chain's proposal to establish a similar cafe here by transferring a liquor license from a defunct local restaurant to its Route 501 store, at the southern edge of Lititz
The beer cafe plans coincide with Gov. Tom Corbett's recent proposal to privatize the state's wine and spirits system, which would pave the way for beer and wine sales in supermarkets, convenience stores and big-box retailers.
Curtin said the beer cafe proposal is independent of Corbett's plans.
If approved, the store will sell six-packs, 12-packs and larger-sized bottles or cans of beer to customers in a "beer cafe" in one end of the store.
The cafe would have a separate entrance and a separate cash register. Customers could buy up to 192 ounces of beer or brewed beverages, such as hard cider and hard lemonade, the equivalent of two six-packs of 16-ounce containers, in one purchase.
Weis operates a similar cafe in its Wyomissing store on Paper Mill Road in the Broadcasting Square shopping center in Berks County.
Beer signs in the window signal the entrance to the cafe at the left side of the supermarket, which is between a Famous Footwear and Ross Dress for Less store in the large shopping center.
The cafe, which is adjacent to the dairy and frozen food aisles, features beers ranging from microbrewery specials to domestics to imports.
The cafe also sells a mix-and-match six-pack, allowing customers to fill a cardboard holder from a selection of a wide variety of beers for a price of $10.99.
A cluster of tables, seating about 35, separates the cafe from the rest of the store. Shoppers can sit there and drink a beer with food that they have purchased at the store's deli.
The cafe does not prepare food itself, however. One of its refrigerated cases held only some cheese chunks, two pieces of wrapped pizza and a basket of oranges and lemons Tuesday.
"Most of the people who buy beer in this cafe buy it to take it out," Curtin said.
Tina Schaeffer of Fleetwood bought four 40-ounces bottles of Miller beer Tuesday while on her lunch hour. The 46-year-old said she comes to the cafe to buy a smaller amount of beer that is different from what she normally buys at a beer distributor.
"It's very convenient," she said, "and the selection is good."
Borough officials are waiting to hear what residents have to say about the proposed Lititz beer cafe at a hearing to be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26.
Weis is asking the borough to approve the transfer of a liquor license from the former Damon's Clubhouse. The Park City restaurant closed in June 2010, a few months after filing for bankruptcy.
The borough has the power to deny the transfer simply because it does not want it to occur.
"They don't have to establish any type of adverse effect," said Stacy Kriedeman, state Liquor Control Board spokeswoman.
The licensee cannot appeal that decision, she said.
If the borough approves the transfer, it then goes before the LCB, which examines it to see if it meets its criteria for approval.
Lititz Borough Council president Karen Weibel said she's heard no reaction to or questions about the proposed cafe following a discussion of it at last week's council meeting.
"There are other supermarket chains in Pennsylvania that already sell beer," she said. "People vacation and go to visit folks in other states, and they see there is a way to make this work, where it's not a blight on the community."
Weis would have to manage the cafe well and make sure it causes no problems in the store or its parking lot, she said.
The Wyomissing store has not presented any problems to local police, said Lt. Joseph Shivers of the Spring Township Police Department.
"You don't really know it's there, truthfully," he said.
The only incident he could recall was when police last March cited a man who purchased beer at the cafe and then gave it to underage people. An enforcement detail called Cops in Shops caught the man.
Weis cards every person who wants to buy beer, using a scanner that checks the license before it unlocks the register for a transaction, Curtin said.
At this point, the Weis cafes sell only beer but the supermarket chain said at some point in the future its cafes may sell wine as well. Their license only would allow them to sell it by the glass, for consumption on the premises.
About 160 grocery or specialty stores in the state sell beer. A second one is set to open in Lancaster County this spring.
Hunger-N-Thirst at 920 Landis Ave. will be a specialty food store, a craft-beer tap room and a take-out bottle shop.
cstauffer@lnpnews.com
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