Among the 600 or so residents in the tiny Illinois village of Hutsonville, the over-21 crowd has an opportunity that no Hoosier at home in Indiana can claim.
The villagers can buy carryout alcohol on Sundays for off-premises consumption.
A measure might be put forward in the upcoming session of the Indiana General Assembly to allow Sunday alcohol sales. At least, that was the discussion during the summer months when the Indiana Chamber of Commerce announced its support of a measure that would allow liquor stores, grocers and convenience stores that now sell alcohol six days a week to sell it on Sunday, too. Indiana lawmakers have wrestled with the issue of Sunday carryout alcohol sales since the Prohibition era of the early 20th century.
Illinois lawmakers, however, leave it up to local governments to choose whether or not to allow Sunday sales of packaged beer, liquor and wine.
Hutsonville Foods in Crawford County, Illinois, is just across the Wabash River from Sullivan County. The tiny grocery is the only location in the county that is permitted to make Sunday alcohol sales to customers.
"I know it gives us a lot of business," said store manager Leslie Hites of the small grocery's unique Sunday sales line. With no restaurants in town, the store is known for its deli and ready-to-serve food offerings as well.
Some customers do cross over from Indiana — Merom, Graysville, Sullivan, even Terre Haute — to buy packaged beer on Sundays, she said.
"On Sundays, we are the busiest," she said of alcohol sales. "But, we also sell a lot of beef and noodles on that day too."
Customer Jill Svitek, who went into the small market off Highway 154 to buy a six-pack on Friday, said she depends on being able to buy beer on Sunday.
"I love coming in and buying beer on Sunday," said Svitek, who said she lives only a couple of blocks away from the store. "I come in here on Sunday and by beer all the time."
Though Illinois law prohibits retailers from selling liquor on Sundays, local governing bodies such as county and city councils can permit an exception to the state ban. That's what has happened in Martinsville, Illinois, in Clark County, about 14 miles north of Hutsonville.
As the first part of the alcohol sales permitting process, a retailer must apply to the Martinsville mayor's office for a permit for Sunday sales. If that is approved, the retailer proceeds through the state permit process. So far in Martinsville, only two locations have Sunday alcohol sales — the local grocery store and a gas station north of town near Interstate 70.
Leonard DeRousse, owner of L&M Grocery in Martinsville, has a permit to sell beer on Sundays. He said his Sunday alcohol sales are a big benefit to his independent grocery.
"If it wouldn't be for the alcohol, I'd be out of business," DeRousse told the Tribune-Star. "It's one of the main money makers for me."
DeRousse said he owned a grocery in Westfield for 23 years, but did not have a permit to sell alcohol on Sundays. He bought the Martinsville grocery about three years ago, and it already had the Sunday alcohol sales permit.
He said he does see some Hoosiers who make the trip to Martinsville — about 28 miles from Terre Haute on U.S. 40 — as well as some folks from the nearby towns of Casey and Marshall, which do not have Sunday alcohol sales.
"I know it draws some out-of-towners," DeRousse said. "I do pretty good on Sunday because there's nobody else who sells it."
His grocery is off the beaten path in Martinsville — on the north east side of town away from the main thoroughfare. But it is on the route north to U.S. 40 and I-70.
If Indiana were to begin offering carryout sales on Sunday, he said, it probably would not put a dent in his business.
"I don't think it would hurt me that bad," he speculated. "I get a few from Indiana, but not that many. It wouldn't hurt."
A search of the local liquor-related ordinances in Illinois on the Illinois Liquor Control Commission website at www.illinois.gov/ilcc/SitePages/survey.aspx shows that Edgar County does not have any local Sunday alcohol sales. Crawford County is "dry", but allows the local permits, such as Hutsonville Foods. Clark County is "wet" and has some local Sunday permits issued.
Indiana is one of six states — the others are Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — that prohibit a retailer such as as a grocery, liquor or convenience store from selling alcohol on Sunday.
In 1973, the Indiana General Assembly voted to allow bars, restaurants and hotels to sell alcohol by the drink on Sundays. In 2010, the state lifted the Sunday carryout sales ban for microbreweries. Wineries are also exempt. Craft artisan distilleries can sell locally made spirits on site, but still not on Sundays.
No legislation has yet been proposed in the Indiana General Assembly for the upcoming session, so for now, the Sunday sales legislation has not officially advanced from the discussion stage.