Shoppers rush for last-minute spirits - State stores that opened their doors Sunday found high demand for alcohol before New Year's

Long lines and, as the afternoon wore on, empty shelves greeted last-minute New Year's shoppers Sunday at the Wine & Spirits store on Cedar Crest Boulevard in South Whitehall Township.

The hectic afternoon, which saw lines of 30 or more snake down the aisles of the store, one of a handful of Lehigh Valley state stores open, marked the first time New Year's Eve fell on a Sunday since Pennsylvania opened its liquor store system to Sunday sales in February 2003.

The calendar convergence made it possible for hundreds of last-minute shoppers to buy wines, liquors and champagnes to ring in the new year.

"We were this busy on Christmas Eve, but things had died down by now," said store manager Gregg Chromiak on Sunday afternoon about two hours after the store opened at noon.

"There were people waiting outside when we opened, and we opened a little early to let them in," Chromiak said. "It's been mobbed ever since."

The store, among the first in the state to feature Sunday sales, is usually busy on a Sunday.

"It's usually our biggest retail day," Chromiak said.

But business was especially brisk Sunday. Chromiak estimated all of the store's 200 cases of Korbel champagne would be sold by the time the store closed at 5 p.m.

All eight cash registers were staffed, and lines stretched three-quarters of the store for much of the afternoon.

Bob Heisler of South Whitehall girded himself for a long wait at the end of one line.

"I wanted to buy some last-minute things, some champagne and some gifts," he said. Like many others interviewed Sunday, the long lines surprised him.

Bill Mawhinney of Allentown also was doing some last-minute shopping.

"We really just forgot," said Mawhinney, scanning the rapidly emptying champagne shelves and trying to figure out which wine would go best with the lobster planned for the family New Year's Eve dinner.

"My wife wondered whether there would be a long line," he said.

What if there were no Sunday sales?

"I guess we would have been disappointed," he said.

Mawhinney decided on a bottle of Korbel chardonnay, which cost just under $13.

Not everyone was a last-minute shopper.

Eva Deutsch, owner of Evil Eva's bar on Eighth Street