wrote:

> Is PA one of those states where you have to
> go to a separate "state run" store to buy beer & wine
> and anything alcoholic?

No for beer, (and businesses with names like "W.R. Hickey Beer
Distributor Inc." and "Pletcher's Beer Distributor" is kinda a
give-away) but yes for wine and liquor http://www.lcb.state.pa.us/ .

Basically, beer is sold retail only by the case (no less) by "beer
distributors", lesser quantities by bars and other shops ("6 pack shops"
that usually sell prepared food, as well), usually at much higher prices
(do they still limit the amount that can be sold at one time to one
person to 2 six-packs?). It's pretty much a system unique to PA (and,
I've always felt was one of the reasons that more of PA's small
breweries survived than most every other states, in the pre-microbrewery
era).

I can't think of ANY state that only allows *beer* sales from "state
stores". (Even Ontario's "Beer Stores" are a privately-owned, tho' a
state-sanctioned monopoly, right?).