I thought Privatization is for liquor. I don't know how that would change the pricing or availability of beer if beer is already sold outside of state-controlled stores.
There's lots more to the current plan than just selling the state-stores/licenses, much of it concerns beer distributors - competing with grocery chains to buy wine/spirit licenses, new licenses to sell beer in smaller than case quantities, and beer & wine licenses for grocery/big box stores, etc. See: Corbett privatization plan worries beer distributors
Depends how sweeping the reform is. Privatization itself only pertains to wine and liquor. I haven't heard the details of the new proposal yet. Would existing state stores be replaced by privately owned stores, or would new liquor stores also have the ability to sell beer? And in that case, would they be allowed to sell cases, six packs, or both? There are a lot of unknowns here, and frankly I wouldn't hold my breath that this state will resolve it any time soon.
I just want stores to be able to sell beer without having to have a kitchen and "20" seats or however many they pretend to have. If their only overhead is rent and beer, I'd hope to see prices come down as a result. Okay stop laughing, it might happen!
