INDIANAPOLIS – Retailers in Indiana are squaring off over legislation limiting beer and wine sales stores, the Post-Tribune reports. Liquor stores and the 600 gasoline stations that sell beer and wine each accuse the other of having an unfair competitive advantage.

The issue involves increasing the number of convenience and grocery stores that stock beer and wine. Senate Bill 339 seeks to restrict new stores from selling beer and wine if they do not meet the state's definition of a grocery store. The Senate Commerce Committee heard the bill last Thursday. Under Indiana state law, only groceries, pharmacies and package stores can sell closed containers of beer and wine. Each permit has different standards; for example, grocery stores are measured by inventory size.

Bill supporters argue that too many gasoline stations do not separate their beer displays from the rest of the store, adding that the gasoline stations are not grocery stores but convenience stores.

The Indiana Grocery and Convenience Store Association counters that the bill will add to the already unfair advantage of package stores, which can sell cold beer while grocery retailers cannot. "We're believers in free enterprise," Joe Lackey, president of the grocery association, told the newspaper.

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, a state appeals court ruled on Friday that state alcohol regulators improperly gave a Sheetz convenience store a license to sell take-out beer, the Associated Press reports.

The court said a "retail dispenser" license issued by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) to a Sheetz Inc. store in Altoona, Pennsylvania, obliges that beer be consumed on the premises. However, Sheetz does not allow consumers to drink alcohol in its stores.

"An entity that is licensed for on-premises consumption is given the additional benefit of selling beverages for off-premises consumption," wrote Judge Robert Simpson for the majority in the 4-3 decision. Simpson added that Pennsylvania law "makes the right to conduct sales for off-premises consumption secondary to the primary purpose of selling malt or brewed beverages for on-premises consumption at the eating place."

Dissenting Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer wrote that Sheetz should be able to use the retailer dispenser license as it wishes because stores that are allowed to sell beer until 2 a.m. may close earlier if they want to. "The PLCB notes that it has never required any of its licensees to utilize their individual licenses and permits to the fullest extent, and it provides numerous examples," she wrote.