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Indiana Sunday Alcohol Sales
How do you feel?

I'm curious, how do you, our customers, feel about Sunday alcohol sales here in Indiana? Would you shop for wine in our stores on Sunday? I have always thought that our stores are a bit of a destination, so being open on Sunday would give people who travel a distance to reach us more opportunity to visit. In fact, since we are definitely not on the way home for many of you, would you be likely to shop with us more often if we were open on Sunday? I would like to know and would really appreciate some feedback from my readers on this one.

First a disclaimer. I operate with a grocery license and I sit on the board of the Indiana Retail Council, whose leader, Grant Monahan, has been leading the fight to legalize Sunday sales. I'm one of the small merchants at the table with the public affairs directors and attorneys for Kroger, Walmart, CVS and Walgreens just to mention a few. I even testified before a Senate committee on the issue five years ago. As a result, I have had a ringside seat over the years as the fight has dragged on.

In case you have been living under a rock for the last two months you know about the war that has been raging between the package liquor stores and the grocery and drug stores over the issue this year. The package stores position is that they would have to take on the expense of being open an additional day without any increase in business. I suspect the real reason it that it would be more convenient for people who do their grocery shopping on Sunday to buy alcohol then. Grocery stores counter that they loose plenty of Sunday business on the periphery of the state where people can easily drive to a neighboring state to do their grocery shopping. Not to mention the fact that our being the only state in the union that allows alcohol to be served in restaurants but not sold in stores on Sunday makes us look pretty backward. Newcomers do find it pretty unbelievable when they bring a bottle of wine to the check outcounter on Sunday and are treated like criminals. I suppose Indiana residents are just numb to the hypocrisy.

After years of trying, much money and effort was expended this year and a bill was actually sent to the floor of the house only to be amended with a poison pill by the package store interests. The provisions of the amendment were so noxious that grocery interests were forced to fight to kill it. I still believe that Sunday sales are going to happen. As the issue's profile continues to rise with all the advertising and media coverage, sooner or later, enough legislators are going to get tired of having their constituents ask them why they oppose such a common sense change. Please let me know what you think...

Here is a link to more information...
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/24/sponsor-sunday-alcohol-bill-enough-votes/23930769/

Follow this link to see what our customers thought...Sunday Alcohol Sales, you felt strongly!

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