Woo hoo! State College is getting a Trader Joe's!!! Doing the Snoopy dance!

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amanda_pennsylvania

Well-known member
I'm so excited about this. We have a Wegman's, but I love TJs and have missed it so much. It will be located about five minutes from my house, too. Can't wait! (Now we just need some decent Mexican food and I'll be all set.)

 
Nope, no wine. Pennsylvania has very strange liquor laws.

As far as I can tell, if you want wine and/or spirits, you have to go to a state-owned liquor store. If you want to buy a six-pack of beer, you go to something called a bottle shop. If you want a larger quantity of beer (say, a keg or case), you have to go to a beer distributor. Our local Wegman's can sell beer, but the area is separate from the rest of the store.

(I was at Wegman's a few months ago and a man in front of me was trying to buy two flats of beer and the cashier told him he had to buy the one, actually take it out of the store and put it in his car, then come back and buy the other one. Totally insane. He ended up by walking out in disgust and not buying anything.)

There's talk of privatizing the system, but that will probably take years.

So, no two-buck Chuck for us. smileys/frown.gif

 
Amen sister. At least now you can walk up to the bottles. For years, you had to stand behind

a counter and TELL the state employee what you wanted. Since I'm a bottle slut and buy most wines based on the artistry of the label and shape of the bottle, it was not a happy time for me.

 
I;ve been shopping at TJ's regularly for thirty years. I've never once not bought wine.

I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around this!

 
I know. It took me a while to figure out the system and I'm still not used to it.

I was so used to buying my wine at TJs. Of course, the first few years I was here, I wasn't buying wine because I was (a) trying to get pregnant, (b) pregnant, or © nursing. Not that I didn't have the occasional glass, but my intake dropped considerably; also, my husband isn't a big drinker and I dislike drinking alone.

Now that I'm done with all that, I'm back to buying wine but it's such a pain to have to go to a separate store.

 
bottle slut---snortsnortsnort! I'm right there with ya. might have to change my username. love

teh creative labels and fun bottles. they get me everytime.

 
take heart...

these antidilluvian 19th C. evangelical/puritan reactionary laws are slowly but surely dying away as modern society rejects the mythology that they were founded on. We in your neighbor to the west also had similar state controlled liquor stores (but lucky Cincinnatians have always jaunted over the bridge to Kentucky to do our liquor shopping where we pay about 25% less). The state of course still has control, but has finally relented and now allow licenses to groceries, corner delis, and the like to sell spirits, and oh my gosh, pay with a credit card instead of cash!!! So yes, we can actually buy wine at TJs with a credit card...

However we still can't buy before 1 or 2:30 pm on Sundays (depending on the type of permit the establishment holds) and before 5:30 am or after 1pm on M-S.

Who thinks up this stuff? And why have they been given authority to govern?

 
OMG - I thought I was the only one who bought a bottle of wine because the label was pretty!!!!

And most times - the wine was pretty good.

 
Grew up in PA and now living in NJ - I get lists from family of what to bring with me

when I come for a visit. Northeast PA state stores are pathetic - small, carry such a limited selection of cheap stuff it's not funny. I visit my family and friends once to twice a month - and when I forget to bring my own libations and have to venture into a state store I shudder.....

23 years in NJ has made me appreciate what I have here... Selection..... sales.....staff that care and know what they're talking about - since if they don't have good customer service it's their business that fails!

So - I've been a booze runner all these years...hee hee...

 
And when I take PA family and friends to a liquor store here they stand in awe.....overwhelmed

 
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