Pennsylvania Holds The Line On State Store Liquor Prices
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has turned down a price increase for several hundred items carried in its state-owned liquor stores.
The Liquor Control Board instituted a price hike moratorium in November, and in its latest quarterly review has decided to continue the policy, refusing a retail price increase requested for about 400 of the up to 10,000 items carried in bigger state stores.
LCB chairman PJ Stapleton says the suppliers could choose not to sell in Pennsylvania at current prices -- though he seems to think that's unlikely.
"I hope not," he told KYW Newsradio. "I believe they would view Pennsylvania as an important market and they want to continue to do business here. And I think they understand, too, that this is a tough economy, that consumers are burdened in many different ways, and this is one area where we felt that they shouldn't have to be burdened additionally."
Stapleton says prices will be reviewed again in September.
Reported by KYW Harrisburg bureau chief Tony Romeo
