What’s up with beer sales at the Circle K stores in Central New York?
During the past weekend, the gas station / convenience market chain offered huge discounts to liquidate its beer inventory at many of its local locations. That prompted customers to line up and haul away bargain 6-packs and cases. The deal ended at midnight Sunday.
Today (Feb. 1) the State Liquor Authority web site shows about 40 Circle K locations in Central and Northern New York with expired liquor licenses. In almost all cases, the expiration dates on the previous licenses were Jan. 31, 2021.
People familiar with the local beer distribution industry say the problem appears to be a paperwork error, and beer sales could return to the local Circle Ks in about a month or so. Calls to Circle K representatives have not been returned.
The issue may stem from a change at most of the stores from the Nice N Easy brand to Circle K within the last few years.
CST Brands of San Antonio purchased the stores in Central and Northern New York in 2014, shortly after the death of Nice N Easy founder John MacDougall. A division called CST New York LLC operated them for several years under the Nice n Easy name. They were later rebranded as Circle K stores.
But many of the licenses that were due to expire on Jan. 31 still had the Nice N Easy name on them. That presents a problem, although a fixable one, for license renewal.
A spokesman for the State Liquor Authority said the solution could be as simple as filing the name change with the Secretary of State’s office.
On Saturday and Sunday, Circle K stores across Central New York offered discounts such as $1 for single cans or bottles, $5 for 6-packs, $8 for 12- to 18-packs; and $10 for 24- to 30-packs. The deals applied equally to high-end craft brands and to lower-priced bargain brands.
On social media, such as at the Syracuse Craft Beer Enthusiasts group page, posters reported long lines at many stores, leading to entire inventories being “wiped out.” Photos showed people loading up carts with packages of beers like Sloop Juice Bomb, Southern Tier mixed-packs, Lagunitas Super Cluster and Thin Man Minkey Boodle (brewed in Buffalo).
The Circle K brand is owned by the Canadian company Couche-Tard, which also has stores under the Holiday and Corner Store names. It operates about 7,100 stores in 47 different states.
The Central New York stores are part of its Great Lakes Region. A call to a Greats Lakes Region representative, and an email sent to a Couche-Tard representative were not returned today.
The screen shot from the NY State Liquor Authority shows that liquor licenses have expired at many Circle K convenience stores operated by CST New York LLC. "AX" is the designation for a grocery beer / wine product license.
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
February 02, 2021 at 03:29AM
https://ift.tt/3aq7MgJ
No more beer at the Circle K? Maybe it’s just temporary - syracuse.com
https://ift.tt/2NyjRFM
Beer
No comments:
Post a Comment