Pennsylvania's online liquor store remains difficult to access

It’s almost impossible to access the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s online sales site these days, but residents can buy booze online through several independent distilleries.

Repeated attempts to access the Fine Wine & Good Spirits online store brings up the same message: “Thank you for being a valued customer. Due to overwhelming demand, the online store is not available at this time. Please try again tomorrow or in the coming days. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Liquor Control spokesman Shawn Kelly said the site is accepting a controlled number of orders per day from randomly chosen customers. It is filling orders with skeleton crews at three locations: Pittsburgh, Montgomery County and Wilkes-Barre, he said.

“Access continues to be randomized to avoid overwhelming the site with high traffic, prevent order abuse and prolong access throughout the day so that order availability isn’t exhausted in seconds or minutes each day,” he said.

Pennsylvania closed its state liquor and wine stores March 17 and residents have rushed to neighboring states for alcohol purchases. A flood of Pennsylvanians heading to Monongalia County, W.Va., prompted health officials there to ban the sale of liquor to anyone without a West Virginia driver’s license or state identification.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a national trade group, reported a dramatic increase in liquor sales in states bordering Pennsylvania based on data released by the Nielsen Corp., a global marketing company.

For the week ending on March 28, Ohio had a 60 percent increase in liquor sales, West Virginia a 32 percent increase and Maryland a 28 percent increase, according to the council. It reported that food and beverage alcohol retail stores remain open in 49 states and Washington, D.C.

“What’s happening in Pennsylvania is clearly not working,” Chris Swonger, the council’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Rather than completely closing all Fine Wine and Good Spirits stores, Gov. Wolf should be seeking creative solutions that protect public health while maintaining operations.”

Kelly said the Liquor Control Board between April 1 and Tuesday completed nearly 7,800 online orders totaling nearly $708,000 in sales. The website had about 1.9 million visitors and 10.9 million page views.

In fiscal year 2018-19, Kelly said, online sales generated about 39,000 orders totaling about $5 million. Liquor sales in Pennsylvania totaled $2.5 billion during that fiscal year.

“We are evaluating fulfillment capacity on a daily basis to optimize the number of orders we can accept each day and the number of orders accepted each day will vary until we can better understand demand and fulfillment capacity,” Kelly said. “We ask that customers be patient and understand that the PLCB is doing the best it can under extraordinary circumstances to balance consumer demand and public health.”

Meanwhile, several local distilleries are filling online and curbside orders:

• Wigle Whiskey, based in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, is offering drive-thru pickup for customers who order online in advance and direct shipping through a delivery service.

• McLaughlin Distillery in Sewickley Hills offers online sales of bourbons, whiskeys, moonshine and vodka and curbside delivery at the store.

In addition, Cask Cartel based in Cheyenne, Wyo., will ship a wide range of liquors across the United States.