Bid deadline approaches for restaurant liquor licenses

Stacy Wescoe//September 11, 2019

Weis Markets in Allentown is among the grocery stores with PALCB restaurant licenses that allow for beer and wine sales. (File photo by Stacy Wescoe) –

Time is running out for those interested in submitting bids for 25 expired restaurant licenses that are coming up for auction Sept. 19 by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control board.

Bids for the licenses are due by noon on Monday, Sept. 16.

Among the licenses up for bid are one each in Berks, Lebanon, Montgomery and Northampton counties.

The auction will use a sealed bidding process. The minimum bid for each license is $25,000 and each bid must be accompanied by a surety of $5,000 or 5 percent of the total amount bid.

The highest bidder for each license will win the right to apply to the PLCB for the license within six months.

Many of the bids in the state’s eight previous auctions have come from grocery and convenience stores seeking to add beer and wine cafes since PLCB regulations were changed to allow for them.

Lists of winning bidders from those auctions are available on the license auction page of the PLCB website. Auction revenue from all previous auctions totals $28.1 million, while another $2.3 million remains in escrow, pending license approvals.

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