Weis Markets Starts Wine Sales in PA

Taking advantage of new Pennsylvania state law allowing to-go wine sales outside of state-owned spirits stores, grocery retailer Weis Markets has begun a pilot program to sell wine in its in-store café on Simpson Ferry Road in Mechanicsburg.

Weis Markets plans to sell wine in all 49 of its Pennsylvania cafes by late November, around the Thanksgiving holiday.

“We’ve sold beer in our Pennsylvania cafes for more than 10 years and, throughout this time, we’ve been repeatedly asked one question: when are you going to sell wine? Now, we have an answer,” said Kurt Schertle, Weis Markets COO. “Starting this week, we are selling wine in our Mechanicsburg café and are looking to quickly roll the program out to all of our licensed cafes in Pennsylvania over the coming months. We want to offer our customers improved convenience and a more complete shopping experience; selling wine in our cafes allows us to do both.”

The Mechanicsburg café will have a selection of about 80 varieties of wine during the pilot program and will also include a chilled section. Ultimately, the cafes are expected to sell up to 400 varieties of wine. The Mechanicsburg café will still offer more than 900 varieties of beer, including an extensive selection of craft and local craft beers.

Founded in 1912, Sunbury, Pa.-based Weis Markets Inc. operates 171 stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and West Virginia.