Last week, Connecticut moved ever closer to being the 49th state in the union to allow Sunday alcohol sales.
The lone holdout?
Indiana.
Now, you can walk into a bar or restaurant and order a drink in Indiana on a Sunday.
Or if you’re so inclined you can drive to Michigan, Illinois or Ohio to pick up some beer you forget to get on Saturday night for that barbecue or party on Sunday.
But you can’t walk into a gas station, Walmart or liquor store and legally leave with alcohol.
Why is Indiana the lone holdout?
There are many reasons.
But the argument’s current iteration comes down to this: Liquor stores don’t want Sunday sales while your gas stations and mega-marts want them.
Now, I’m not speaking for all liquor store owners.
Or any for that fact.
But I have talked to several – and also the powers that be – and know that for liquor stores, Sunday sales are problematic.
For one, Sundays are typically the only days off liquor store employees have.
And with dwindling profit margins, the answer can’t just be hire more staff for Sundays.
The reason liquor stores continue to lose out on business to your Speedways and CVSs of the world is simple.
First, there is the convenience of being able to buy booze at the same place you buy your meat or paper towels.
Second, it seems that the state continually makes rules that benefit big chain stores and gas stations without providing liquor stores relief.
It’s like pro football. Ever since about 1980, almost every rule change has been put in place to help the offense.
That’s why you have astronomical passing numbers and records falling at a rapid pace.
Booze is big business. And big business is pushing the little guy (liquor stores) out of the way.
Now on a list of problems facing Indiana, being able to buy a six-pack of Smirnoff Ice on Sunday ranks pretty low.
But this issue is about more than “beverage choice” as some not-so-grassroots organizations argue.
It’s about protecting a segment of small business.
Have you ever walked into or by a liquor store and wondered why there are a bank of vending machines for Coke and Pepsi outside?
That’s because the state doesn’t allow the sale of cold carbonated beverages inside liquor stores.
They can sell cold juice but they can’t sell a cold Sprite.
They can sell beef jerky or peanuts but they can’t sell hot sandwiches.
Meanwhile, gas stations are increasingly asking for and receiving approval to put beer and wine in their establishments. Right near the hot sandwiches and cold pop.
You can argue that gas stations have made such moves because of their razor-thin profit margins on gas sales. And I have no problem with that.
But while gas stations and big chains are currently not allowed to sell cold beer, I think it’s only a matter of time before that happens.
There are average citizens out there who want to be able to buy booze on Sundays. But a lot of the talk is being driven by lobbying groups with the best interest of gas stations and box stores in mind.
This issue has made its way to the state legislature a few times without much traction.
For Sunday alcohol sales to become a reality in Indiana, we need to acknowledge that it’s about money not our God-given right to buy Dos Equis on the Lord’s day.
And if we keep making laws and exceptions that hurt family-owned liquor stores, those crying for “beverage choice” could eliminate choices for Hoosiers and hurt small business.
Follow staff writer Daniel Riordan on Twitter at @TUNews_Riordan
