While most state offices will be closed Monday, state-run liquor stores will be open on Memorial Day for the first time ever — thanks to a law passed last year aimed at improving customer convenience.

Most of the nearly two dozen state-controlled Wine & Spirits stores in Westmoreland County are normally open on Monday. However, they'll be open under shorter hours on Memorial Day. Holiday hours will be limited to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

State stores located on Main Street in Irwin and on Fifth Street in Avonmore, which aren't typically open on Mondays, will remain closed.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board began opening state stores on certain holidays this year following passage of Act 39, which lifted the holiday hours restriction. The new holiday hours were included along with other changes aimed at improving consumer convenience, and the state could also see increased revenue from the additional days.

The stores were open Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents Day. They will be open on Independence Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day.

Act 39 liberalized wine sales and made sweeping changes to state liquor policies. Among other things, the law allowed the state to sell off expired restaurant liquor licenses through sealed-bid auctions, permitted supermarkets, restaurants and hotels to sell wine to go, put lottery machines in state stores and cleared the way for residents to have wine shipped directly to their homes from approved wineries, among other things.

Kevin Zwick is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-2856 or kzwick@tribweb.com.

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