Harrisburg – The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) set new sales records in the last several weeks of 2016, achieving the highest one-day sales, highest single-month sales, and highest sales through the first half of a fiscal year in Pennsylvania history.
Sales on Friday, Dec. 23, 2016, totaled $27.4 million (including sales and liquor taxes), $1 million or 3.9 percent higher than the previous one-day sales record set on Dec. 31, 2015.
“While New Year’s Eve is often our busiest wine and spirit sales day, the 2016 calendar put both Christmas and New Year’s Day on Sundays, allowing customers to spread out their holiday buying,” said PLCB Chairman Tim Holden. “But as we’ve seen in past years, holiday celebrations that began in November built into a December sales crescendo.”
December 2016 achieved a new record for highest monthly sales in PLCB history – $327.3 million in total sales, including taxes. This is an increase of $17.1 million, or 5.5 percent, more than the previous monthly sales record set in December 2015.
Sales for the first six months of fiscal year 2016-17 totaled $1.35 billion including taxes, surpassing sales for the same period the prior year by $58.6 million, or 4.5 percent.
During that time, the PLCB remitted more than $273.9 million in sales and liquor taxes to the commonwealth, an increase of $12.7 million, or 4.8 percent, over the first six months of 2015-16.
The top three sales days in 2016 and 2015 are compared below. Sales figures include taxes.
| 2016 | 2015 | |
| Top sales day | Dec. 23, $27.4 million | Dec. 31, $26.3 million |
| Second-highest sales day | Nov. 23, $24 million | Dec. 23, $23.2 million |
| Third-highest sales day | Dec. 31, $19.8 million | Nov. 25, $23.1 million |
Sales and tax figures are preliminary until audited.
SOURCE: PLCB
