Pa. Wine Kiosks Are Back On Line But Underperforming
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - The chairman of the Liquor Control Board says consumer interest in those new wine kiosks has waned since machine malfunctions forced the LCB to take the kiosks off-line for several weeks in late December and January.
The chairman of the Liquor Control Board, P.J. Stapleton, says business at the wine kiosks was strong before machine problems caused a shut down just before Christmas.
"Which is the absolute worst possible time to have to do that," according to Stapleton. "They've been back on-line now for a number of weeks, and the customer acceptance has not been as high as it was prior to having to shut the machines down."
Stapleton estimates that transactions are off by about 15 to 20-percent. The result, he says is the planned rollout of 100 kiosks will be slowed down. He says there are about 30 up and running, 30 more for which contracts are pending, while possible locations for the other 40 will be carefully vetted for where they might perform best.
For now he says the kiosks are having "little impact" on LCB revenues and operations.
Reported by Tony Romeo, KYW Newsradio
