People in quarantine want their booze, and the state agency that holds the keys has been gradually loosening regulations to allow more people to get it.
All Fine Wine & Good Spirits locations were closed for retail sales in mid-March, but on Monday, about 120 opened for curbside pickup. Starting April 27, that list expands to include 565 of the 600 total retail locations in Pennsylvania.
In Philadelphia, 48 shops will be accepting orders. Check out a map of the options below (click on a pin to see address and phone), followed by the list for the whole state.
You can’t just walk in and pick your poison. There are a few rules in place to make sure the process complies with social distancing measures and to ensure stores can handle demand. Here’s how it’ll work:
- Call your store of choice on the phone between 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday to Saturday
- Talk with the staff about what’s available and make your selections
- Provide credit card payment info over the phone
- Visit the store during designated hours to pick your order up at the curb
- All sales are final
There are limits to how much you can get at once. Orders will be capped at six bottles total, and only one order per day is allowed for each caller. The phone won’t be answered if a location has fulfilled all it can handle on a given day, the LCB says.
In its first four days, the curbside pickup program processed just over 38k orders totaling $3.64 million, according to unaudited figures released by the LCB.
That’s about half as much as the ecommerce store sold all month. FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com is purposely gated so only about 100 people can use it at any given time, in order to keep the system from crashing. Still, in relative terms, online sales are booming.
Through April 23, the LCB had processed close $7.11 million in online sales — which is more than the $5 million in ecommerce sales for all of last year. In normal times, the state sells about $2.5 billion worth of booze annually.
Philadelphians can also order spirits directly from local distilleries, as well as wine from local restaurants. Breweries and beer distributors are also allowed to remain open and process sales.
Find a list of local places to buy booze here.
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