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Coronavirus Pennsylvania: Residents Endure Long Waits As Some Wine & Spirits Stores Offer Curbside Pickup Across State

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (CBS) -- Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is taking small steps to reopen parts of Pennsylvania's economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the new developments, it's now a bit easier to get alcohol.

A limited selection of Wine & Spirits stores are now back in business, but there's a process. You can't just walk in.

Customers have to call ahead, make their order, then wait for a call back letting them know when their order is ready.

Curbside pickup is now available at a number of state stores.

"Started calling around 10. Nothing, probably called once every minute," King of Prussia resident Steven Benedetto said.

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Customers can place their orders by phone between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Benedetto called 32 times before getting through, then he had to wait six hours to pick up his order.

"It was kind of ridiculous that they shut these down and made people that wanted liquor enough to go out of state. I just think it's crazy," he said.

Curbside pickup limits each caller to only one order per day. That will allow for the inventory to be spread out.

"Six bottles, they said six bottles of whatever. I guess it doesn't matter if it's liquor or wine," King of Prussia resident Chris Bloemker said.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has seen an 850% increase in online sales since April 1.

The hope is that partially reopening stores will help take pressure off people heading to other states to get their alcohol.

"Everybody's going to Jersey or Delaware and now they're shutting down, basically, Delaware doesn't want to serve people from Pennsylvania," Bloemker said.

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Gov. Tom Wolf says the 176 Wine & Spirits stores across the state will be monitored.

"We'll closely monitor to see if this can be done safely. This is gonna help us determine if curbside pickup can be more broadly applied to a much more diverse retail landscape, as well as to other industries," Wolf said.

Customers can order by phone Monday through Saturday. Keep in mind, all curbside pickups are final sales.

Click here for a list of available stores.

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