Yes. Pennsylvania grocery stores sell alcohol, but only certain kinds: wine, beer, and ready-to-drink canned cocktails. Bottles of liquor like vodka, whiskey, and rum are still sold only at the state-run Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores operated by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB). And not every supermarket carries alcohol at all, because each store needs its own state license.
What You Can Buy at the Supermarket
A licensed Pennsylvania grocery store can sell three categories of alcohol to-go, each with its own per-transaction cap:
- Wine: up to 3 liters per transaction, which works out to four standard 750 mL bottles.
- Beer: up to 192 fluid ounces per transaction, such as a twelve-pack of 16-ounce cans.
- Ready-to-drink cocktails (RTDCs): pre-mixed, spirits-based canned cocktails between 0.5% and 12.5% ABV, in containers no larger than 16 ounces, up to 192 fluid ounces per transaction.1Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. PLCB Summarizes Acts 57, 86 of 2024, Detailing Liquor Law Changes
All three limits are independent. You can max out wine, beer, and RTDCs in the same purchase. If you need more than the cap in a given category, you’ll have to complete a separate transaction, and some stores will ask you to leave the licensed area and re-enter before ringing up another round.
RTDCs are the newest addition. Grocery stores and gas stations started selling them on September 16, 2024, after Governor Shapiro signed Act 86 of 2024. It was the first time in more than 90 years that spirits-based products could be bought outside the state store system.2Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. PA Grocery Stores and Gas Stations Start Selling RTDC
What You Can’t Buy
Straight liquor is not sold in grocery stores. A bottle of gin, tequila, or bourbon still requires a trip to one of Pennsylvania’s roughly 600 Fine Wine & Good Spirits locations. RTDCs are spirits-based, but they’re the only spirits product a supermarket is permitted to sell.
Why Some Stores Sell Alcohol and Others Don’t
Whether your local supermarket carries wine and beer depends on which licenses it holds. To sell wine to-go, a store needs a Restaurant Liquor License (an “R license”) plus a Wine Expanded Permit from the PLCB. A store with only an Eating Place Malt Beverage License (an “E license”) can sell beer but cannot get a wine expanded permit; converting from an E to an R license costs $30,000 as a one-time fee.3Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Wine Expanded Permits Selling RTDCs requires yet another permit on top of the existing license.2Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. PA Grocery Stores and Gas Stations Start Selling RTDC
Because of the cost, coverage varies widely. Wegmans, Giant Eagle, and some Weis and Whole Foods locations hold licenses in certain stores. The same chain a few miles away may sell nothing stronger than kombucha. Licensed stores also have to run the alcohol section as a partitioned area with its own checkout and some seating and food-service capacity, which is why you’ll usually see it as a signed-off “store within a store” near the entrance.
Hours You Can Buy
Beer and wine sales at grocery stores generally run 7:00 AM to 2:00 AM, Monday through Saturday. Sunday sales require a separate Sunday Sales Permit and run 9:00 AM Sunday to 2:00 AM Monday, with wine to-go cutting off earlier at 11:00 PM Sunday.4Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Sunday Sales Information
RTDCs have tighter hours. Canned cocktails can be sold to-go only until 11:00 PM, seven days a week (with a Sunday sales permit for Sunday hours).5Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Summary of Act 86 of 2024 That earlier cutoff is easy to miss on a late shopping run.
All buyers must be at least 21, and stores will check ID.6Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes 18-6308 – Purchase, Consumption, Possession or Transportation of Liquor or Malt or Brewed Beverages
Grocery Stores, State Stores, and Beer Distributors
Pennsylvania splits alcohol sales across three types of outlets, and each has its own role:
- Fine Wine & Good Spirits: the only source for liquor bottles, and carries a much larger wine selection than any supermarket.
- Beer distributors: still the best option for volume, since they sell cases and kegs. They also sell six-packs, singles, and RTDCs with the right permits, though the Sunday RTDC cutoff at a distributor is 9:00 PM rather than 11:00 PM.5Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Summary of Act 86 of 2024
- Grocery stores: convenient for wine, a six-pack, or canned cocktails picked up alongside groceries, but limited by the per-transaction caps.
Finding a Licensed Grocery Store Near You
The PLCB’s online locator only lists Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores, not licensed supermarkets. The easiest way to check is to call ahead or look for a partitioned alcohol section when you walk in, usually near the entrance or along one wall with its own signage. Stores that sell RTDCs are also required to post signage distinguishing alcoholic canned cocktails from lookalike nonalcoholic drinks.7Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Summary of Act 57 of 2024