Giant Eagle could be gearing up for a remodel of its Rodi Road store after getting permission to sell alcohol there.
The Cranberry-based grocery chain is exploring whether to use a liquor license secured at auction last year to sell beer and wine at its location along Penn Hills’ primary business corridor, according to spokesperson Jannah Drexler.
Ellen Freeman, an attorney with Flaherty & O’Hara representing Giant Eagle, portrayed the addition as more of a done deal.
Alcohol likely will be kept in the corner that currently holds greeting cards, according to Freeman. The other side of the back wall will get booths and high-top tables, she continued, to comply with a state requirement that establishments with a restaurant-type liquor license be able to seat 30 people.
Other parts of the store will get a “face lift,” Freeman noted.
Drexler said there is no remodel scheduled, however.
If Giant Eagle chooses to add beer and wine, it already has cleared a key hurdle.
Under Penn Hills code, liquor licenses coming from outside the municipality cannot be used without a public hearing and council vote.
Giant Eagle purchased this particular license for $116,000 from a business in Etna through the latest Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board auction.
Council gave the transfer unanimous approval Feb. 17.
“This is fairly standard at this point,” Councilman Alan Waldron said.
Councilwoman Joanne Fascio commented that seating areas built for the sake of liquor law compliance tend to become “more of an employee lunchroom” than a benefit to shoppers, but she voted to OK the transfer anyway.
About 5% of alcohol sold by Giant Eagle is consumed on-site, according to Freeman.
Council hasn’t always been so open to expanding alcohol sales.
In 2018, officials tried to ward off beer and wine sales at the GetGo on Frankstown and Coal Hollow roads, only for Giant Eagle to bypass the process and buy a liquor license from a business in the municipality.
That was two years after the state first explicitly allowed the sale of beer and wine at gas stations and grocery stores.
Alcohol has since become a frequent sight at these establishments, including at 59 Giant Eagle locations.
Rearranging the Rodi Road store to make space for alcohol would have little impact on the variety of other goods sold, Freeman assured customers at the hearing.
“They will shift products, they will minimize any product that doesn’t sell well at the store, but they’re very conscious to make sure that all the product that’s popular is going to stay put in that store,” she said.
Giant Eagle operates under an all-ages carding policy and two-drink limit in seating areas, according to Freeman.
Patrons would not be permitted to walk around the store with open containers.
And per state law, transactions would be limited to roughly four bottles of wine or 12 cans of beer.