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PLCB says liquor sales returning to pre-pandemic normal
Stacy Wescoe//November 16, 2022//
Listen to this articleLiquor sales were down slightly for Fiscal Year 2021-2022, but the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is saying that might just be a sign that sales were returning to normal in the wake of the COVID-19 shutdown
The PLCB released its Fiscal Year 2021-22 Annual Report on Wednesday. It showed retail dollar sales of $2.12 billion.
That’s a decrease of 3.4% over the prior year, but it shows more normal, pre-pandemic shopping patterns with retail comprising approximately 75% of total agency dollar sales and licensee sales of $704.2 million accounting for the remainder.
E-commerce sales in fiscal year 2021-22, meanwhile, totaled $13.5 million, a 19.2% decrease compared to the prior year.
The PLCB said e-commerce sales have decreased since Fiscal Year 2019-2020. That’s when FWGS.com experienced unprecedented growth due to COVID-19 and FW&GS stores temporarily closed.
However, e-commerce dollar sales and transactions remain elevated over pre-pandemic year-over-year growth rates, with sales for 2021-22 up 171.9% and transactions up 160.4% as compared to 2018-19.
According to the report, vodka, whiskey, tequila and ready-to-drink spirits topped the list of product categories with the highest year-over-year dollar gains with increases ranging from 2.6% to 63.8% across categories.
Unflavored vodka was the top spirits category in 52 counties, while the remaining 15 counties had American whiskey as the top spirits category.
California cabernet sauvignon was the top wine category in 34 counties, while another 24 counties had box red wine as the top wine category; California chardonnay followed in six counties, and beverage wine followed in three.
The top three counties – Allegheny, Philadelphia, and Montgomery – accounted for 35% of statewide sales.
