Giant Eagle Pilots Wine-to-Go Sales in Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Giant Eagle grocery stores and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) have teamed up to implement a pilot program for wine-to-go sales within the state. A Pittsburgh Giant Eagle, located at 100 Settlers Ridge Center Drive, began selling wine through the program on Aug. 19.

The pilot program launched soon after Act 39, a new law that gives Pennsylvania consumers more options about where they can purchase wine, went into effect.

"Today is a great milestone in bringing additional convenience to Pennsylvanians seeking to pick up a bottle of wine along with ingredients for dinner, and maybe even a six-pack of beer or two," said PLCB Chairman Tim Holden. "Less than two weeks after historic liquor reforms took effect across Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh residents enjoy one-stop shopping for wine, beer, and groceries at their local Giant Eagle."

Giant Eagle and the PLCB first met in early August to collaborate on planning and developing the processes for a system-wide rollout of wine to go at many of the chain's stores in Pennsylvania. A limited pilot program, which is intended to test and refine processes for forecasting product needs, planning replenishment orders and delivering wine from a PLCB distribution center directly to the store, was developed for one Giant Eagle location.

So far, 32 Giant Eagle stores have been granted wine expanded permits.

The PLCB is currently in discussions with a number of large chain retailers interested in selling wine to go and will encourage the development of similar limited pilot programs with each retailers that intends to sell wine at multiple locations.

"For the last two months, since Act 39 was signed into law, we've been stressing that we want to bring wine to go to consumers as quickly as possible, but that we're determined to do it right," said PLCB member Mike Negra. "Giant Eagle's introduction of wine-to-go sales is the culmination of a lot of hard work by individuals across all of the PLCB's departments, and the PLCB is ready and eager to achieve similar success with retail chains across Pennsylvania."

The PLCB still plans to begin broader-scale shipping of wine to large-volume chains in the October timeframe.

"As I have always said, my goal is to modernize the sale of liquor, wine, and beer in order to bring Pennsylvania's wine and spirits system into the 21st century," stated Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. "I applaud PLCB for the efforts to quickly implement Act 39 and Giant Eagle's commitment to bringing greater convenience to the people of Pennsylvania."