Pa. to auction off 'zombie' liquor licenses
Four licenses in Philadelphia, two each in Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh, and Montgomery Counties, and one license in Bucks County are among those being sold.
Pennsylvania plans to put 40 expired restaurant liquor licenses back into circulation, a move designed to address a shortage in licenses.
Four licenses in Philadelphia, two each in Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh, and Montgomery Counties, and one license in Bucks County are among those being auctioned. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board decided to cap the initial auction at 40 licenses as a test.
The first auction, by sealed bid, ends Oct. 27. The minimum bid for each license is $25,000, and each bid must be accompanied by a $5,000 surety.
License prices, which are bought and sold on the open market, have soared about 40 percent over the last year, flirting with $200,000 in Philadelphia and $440,000 in Montgomery County. Driving the demand are supermarkets and large retailers, as well as restaurant chains. A logjam in licensing is delaying the openings of several restaurants in King of Prussia.
Statewide, about 1,200 licenses that have expired since 2000 will be made available through auctions in coming months and years, the LCB said. The state wants to dribble out the licenses to prevent flooding the market.
William B. Morrin, a Philadelphia lawyer who handles liquor licenses as part of his practice, said he had hoped for a public auction, not sealed bids.
Morrin said he believed that the addition of licenses could eventually help stabilize the market.
Morrin also said he was upset with the recent sudden increase in the license renewal fee by $700, from an average of $1,170 to $1,870 per licensee per year.
