A stockpile of 20 expired restaurant liquor licenses in Pennsylvania are up for auction.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board opened bidding on Tuesday as part of its 13th auction since the passage of Act 39, a 2016 law that made sweeping changes to liquor sales in the state.
The auction includes one license in each of the following counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bucks, Clarion, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Huntingdon, Lawrence, Lehigh, Lycoming, McKean, Montgomery, Northampton, Pike, Potter, Sullivan, Washington and Westmoreland.
Sealed bids are due by noon Oct. 1, and winners will be announced after bids are opened on Oct. 3. The agency said minimum bids for each license are $25,000.
The LCB said the highest bidders win rights to apply for the licenses within six months of being awarded. If payment is not received within two weeks, the license application advances to the second-highest bidder.
In past auctions, heavy hitters such as Giant Food Stores, Weis Markets, Sheetz and Rutter’s Farm Stores were among the highest bidders for the so-called “zombie” licenses.
Prior to the passage of Act 39, the LCB had no mechanism to resell the roughly 70 licenses that “died” each year due to enforcement actions, financial troubles or other factors.
