The idea of opening up alcohol sales on Sundays was to eliminate the Prohibition-era rules, allowing Indiana to come into the 21st century like its counterparts throughout the country.
Monday through Saturday, a patron aged 21 or older can walk into any liquor store, grocery store, big box retailer or pharmacy, grab a 12-pack of beer or a bottle of wine, head up to the cashier, show identification, pay for the purchase and walk out. It’s pretty simple.
Except that can’t be done on Sundays. No way. Well, not unless you’re having dinner at an establishment that sells beer and liquor, then you’re allowed to carry out booze.
We’ve lobbied in this space on many occasions that Indiana should do away with its outdated restrictions on Sunday alcohol sales, and we continue to stand firm in that belief.
What legislators should not do is complicate the issue further. Yet, that is exactly what is taking place.
House Bill 1624 passed the House Public Policy Committee with the addition of amendments that would put restrictions on where liquor and beer can be sold in stores. In essence, it opens up Sunday sales by tacking on a host of new rules that will be costly for retailers and an inconvenience for customers.
Those proposed restrictions would ban self checkout of alcohol products and require clerks to be 21. It also would require beer to be sold in a designated area, and liquor to be sold from behind a counter. No more chips or bottled water in the beer aisle, and you won’t find the beer next to spirits.
It simply doesn’t make sense why our lawmakers could believe that doing away with one rule and replacing it with several others is a step forward in this debate.
It’s common knowledge that the liquor store lobby, which opposes changes to the Sunday alcohol sales law, is fierce and has effectively thwarted all previous attempts to alter the law. And we should note the lobby supports the current changes, which will end up collectively costing retailers — not liquor stores — millions of dollars in store remodels and training.
The United States of America has endured a capitalistic economy for generations. The free market works as an economic system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. Perhaps it’s time our lawmakers review their economics lessons.
Open up Sunday sales completely to anyone with a permit to sell beer and wine. Drop all the unnecessary restrictions on store placement, times and days, and let private enterprise work. Let liquor stores and other retailers operate on the same level, with the same customers, advantages and disadvantages, and surprisingly, we suspect the market will function well for all involved.
If our lawmakers can’t do that, then leave the law alone. Eventually, a generation of public servants versed in economics will emerge and kill those so-called blue laws once and for all. It’s only a matter of time before lawmakers are elected who care more for the convenience of consumer than the benefits of lobbyists.