Pa. supermarket wine kiosks taken off-line

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board on Tuesday announced it temporarily will close Pronto wine kiosks statewide to address mechanical and technological issues.

The kiosks were located in 30 supermarkets across the state, including in Giant Food, Wegmans Food Market, Giant Eagle, The Fresh Grocer and Shop 'n Save stores.

"While customer satisfaction with the six-month-old kiosk program remains high, recent problems — such as product not dispensing — require us to take immediate action while we wait for the manufacturer to correct all of the identified issues," stated PLCB chairman PJ Stapleton. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers and supermarket partners, but felt this temporary closure was critical to the future success of the program."

Simple Brands, the developer of the kiosks, will be working on each machine to correct any identified issues, the PLCB asserted. Once all of the kiosks have been fixed and thoroughly tested, the PLCB, along with its supermarket partners and Simple Brands, will work to reopen the kiosks.