As lights flickered inside Sharkies Bar and Thrifty Bottle Shop, 110 Sowers St., on Monday afternoon as a result of the storm raging outside, people filled the store, buying many different types of alcohol.
But one kind dominated sales — Hurricane 40 oz. Malt Liquor.
“We’ll maybe sell one case [of Hurricanes] on a regular day, which is 12 bottles,” Sharkies Manager Kelsey Benkoski said. “So far today [by 3:30 p.m.] we’ve sold 11 cases.”
Benkoski said she rarely sees as many people as she did Monday buying beer in Sharkies. The line was so long Benkoski said she was checking people out in the bar area, which she said she almost never does.
Benkoski said because sales went so well Monday, Sharkies may have a “Hurricane Mixed Drink” special today, keeping with the “Hurricane” theme.
Greg Evans (junior-kinesiology), who was buying Hurricanes at Sharkies, said he was going to get together with friends because classes were canceled and thought buying Hurricanes was a good way to keep theme with the storm.
Sales of Hurricanes at other State College bottle shops have been unusually high as well.
Colin Zimmerman, an employee at Zeno’s To Go bottle shop, 100 W. College Ave., said that while he usually doesn’t see any customers until mid-afternoon, people were in buying Hurricanes and beer within 15 minutes of opening.
Zimmerman said that people were coming in large groups to buy Hurricanes, as only four 40 oz. bottles of malt liquor at a time can be purchased.
Philip Lewandowski, a supervisor at Brewsky’s Bottle Shop, 222 W. College Ave., said that by about 3 p.m. the store had only four Hurricanes remaining on shelves.
“We never sell out [of Hurricanes] this quickly,” Lewandowski said. “It’s extremely rare for us to be this busy in the afternoon.”
Lewandowski also said he had heard from people coming in to Brewsky’s that parties were going on all day, but didn’t hear of any party being directly associated with Superstorm Sandy.
JP Mills, director of The Hopshop Beer Market, 117 Heister St., said that because the Hopshop is considered a high-end beer distributor, people don’t typically come in to buy Hurricanes or domestic beer. Mills said that today the Hopshop has sold far more Hurricanes and domestic beer than usual.
