The justices noted that their decision "may foreshadow the expansion of the practice of large businesses opening restaurants within their facilities."
But, Justice Max Baer wrote in the opinion, "it is for the legislature, not this court, to determine whether to curtail such practice."
The decision, rejecting a challenge brought by a trade group for beer distributors, comes amid renewed debate about how to modernize Pennsylvania's antiquated alcoholic-beverage laws. Gov.-elect Tom Corbett has said he wants to privatize the State Stores that sell wine and liquor.
The Malt Beverage Distributors Association, which represents 450 beer distributors across the state, had challenged Wegmans' license on a number of grounds.
The group says letting Wegmans sell beer would allow other supermarkets and big retailers to horn in on the beer-selling trade by establishing their own eating areas and applying for licenses to serve beer and sell six-packs.
That, the association warned, could put beer distributorships - many of them small mom-and-pop operations - out of business.
Consumers in Pennsylvania now buy beer by the case from distributors; they can also buy up to two six-packs at bars, often at marked-up prices. At Wegmans - or any other retail store with a license to sell beer - customers can buy only up to two six-packs as well. They cannot buy cases there.
"We are disappointed," said Mary Lou Hogan, executive secretary of the distributors association. She said the group would consider its next move, but she acknowledged that, in terms of a legal remedy, it was "at the end of the road."
Though Hogan would not make any predictions about whether other supermarkets and chain stores would seek to sell beer, she said: "I don't see what would stop them."
She may be right.
