Middletown Supervisors Shoot Down Giant’s Liquor License Plan

A supermarket’s plan to add a beer and wine section to their store at the Flowers Mill Shopping Center was denied by the Middletown Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The Supervisors voted 3-1 to kibosh Giant Food Stores’ request to transfer a liquor license from Warrington to the Middletown store. Supervisors Tom Tosti, Anna Payne, and Dawn Quirple voted against the transfer, and Supervisor Chairperson Mike Ksiazek voted in opposition to denying the transfer.

Ellen Freeman, an attorney representing Giant Food Stores, said the company operates 114 beer and wine sections and cafes at their locations. The Giant Food Store on New Falls Road has a beer and wine section and the Summit Square Shopping Center location has won approval to add one.

The company was planning to add a beer and wine section separated from the rest of the grocery store in the front, replacing a deli prep area. In addition to adding room for beer and wine sales, Giant Food Store would create a seating area and offer fresh food for sale to comply with the liquor license, Freeman said.

Customers would be able to sip on as many as two beers and a glass of wine in the eatery section. Customers would also be able to purchase take-out beer and wine with a limit of two six-packs of beer.

The company boasts an “impeccable” record with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, Freeman said.

Tosti raised concern that there was a beer distributor, Pennsylvania Fine Wine and Good Spirits store, and a J.B. Dawson’s restaurant with a bar already in the shopping center.

“How much more convenience can you get when you already have those three locations in the shopping center?” Tosti asked.

Freeman said the law allows for additional convenience and competition.

Jan Edelman, the lawyer representing Golden Beer Distributor in the Flowers Mill Shopping Center, told the Supervisors that opening the beer and wine section in the food store would hurt their business. The new owners of the business purchased the beer distributor only a few months ago.

“The hardship to the small business owner would be greater than the lack of convenience to a consumer,” Edelman said.

A resident who lives behind the shopping center told the Supervisors that she is opposed to Giant Food Stores’ plan because the location was “too small.” She said Giant Food Stores would be better off using their money to expand the store.

Vice Chairperson Amy Strouse was not at the meeting.

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