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First Posted: 7/29/2009

By Ron Bartizek [email protected] & Consumer / City Editor

WILKES-BARRE – In what its owner believes is a first, a local beer distributor will begin home delivery of beer, ice and cigarettes on Friday.

Cheryl Wright, who purchased City Beverage at 704 S. Main St. nearly five years ago, said she considered adding the service at the time but decided to wait. Since then, she’s fielded increasing requests for delivery from older customers who have difficulty getting to the store from their cars.

“Now they won’t even have to do that much,” she said. But there are some restrictions, said Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board spokeswoman Francesca Chapman.
Among them, “The sale has to occur on the premises,” Chapman said, although a phoned-in credit card order qualifies. Also, delivery can take place only during regular store hours and the person who accepts delivery of beer doesn’t have to be the person who placed the order but must be 21 or older. Just as in the store, the minimum quantity for a beer purchase is one case.

Wright said beer stores in the Bloomsburg area have offered delivery for years, and she mentioned Campus Beer as one example. Adam Gladish, the manager there, said deliveries account for nearly half of sales at the store located just blocks from Bloomsburg University.
“I think it does build the business,” he said, and helps keep intoxicated drivers off the road.
Delivery drivers like the job, too: “They get tips.”

While Wright would be pleased to see her delivery sales take off, she’s starting slowly. Delivery will be available only Fridays and Saturdays for now, from noon to 9 p.m., and only to residences, not bars or restaurants.
The delivery area will be limited as well: “We’re not going to go across the river at all,” she said, or beyond Interstate 81 to the east.

A newly lettered van will help spread the message.
“I hope I’m so busy I need a fleet of vans,” Wright said, but for now she’ll “see how it goes” before making a bigger commitment.

Gladish said deliveries keep two Campus Beer vehicles busy most weekends and a third can be put in service for special events. The store has offered the service for at least 20 years, he said.