First, Redbox video kiosks popped up in local grocery stores. Next year, wine boxes will appear.
Self-service wine kiosks are planned in 14 Giant Eagle and five Shop 'n Save supermarkets, and one County Market, in Western Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board picked 100 stores to get the sophisticated vending machines.
"This is a type of state store," LCB spokesman Nick Hays said Wednesday. "It's a customer-operated machine, with a sophisticated interface to verify the age and sobriety of the consumer."
Resembling wine racks with glass fronts, the kiosks can carry up to 500 bottles of as many as 50 wines.
"For us, the benefit is to have people come into the store who may not be regular customers," said Greg Hartley, whose family owns a Shop 'n Save in Richland that is on the LCB's list. The kiosk is planned for a spot at the front of the store, he said.
O'Hara-based Giant Eagle Inc, the region's largest grocery chain, said it anticipates finalizing a deal with the state soon to put kiosks in stores in six counties. "Much like the beer sales that have been well-received for convenience, we feel customers will view this in the same way," spokesman Dick Roberts said, referring to the chain's additions of licensed beer sales areas in some stores.
"They'll also have an opportunity to experience some new technology."
Customers would slide a driver's license into the machine to prove they're 21 or older, and a camera would make sure the person and license match. Wine buyers will have to breathe into a device that measures blood-alcohol level.
Hays said the LCB plans to test the machines internally, then at two to three stores in the Harrisburg area. The full rollout could occur in May or June.
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Self-service wine kiosks could be in these stores by May or June:
Giant Eagle : Bethel Park (Library Road), McCandless, Monroeville, Pine, Robinson, Shaler, West Mifflin and Whitehall in Allegheny County; Beaver Falls in Beaver County; Cranberry in Butler County; New Castle in Lawrence County; South Strabane in Washington County; and Latrobe and North Huntingdon in Westmoreland County
Shop 'n Save : Bethel Park, Richland, Scott and West Mifflin in Allegheny County and Saltsburg in Indiana County
County Market : Grove City in Mercer County.
