In the name of consumer convenience, grocery stores and big-box retailers argued in favor of Sunday sales while acknowledging a change in the law would increase their market share, said the report; in defense of small businesses, liquor stores insisted an extra day of work and competition would put them out of business.
The arguments were not [image-nocss] new. But lawmakers are considering the issue. Several members of the Interim Study Committee on Alcoholic Beverages said they could not remember such a proposal passing a legislative committee or coming to the House or Senate floor for a vote.
"This is an issue that has been raised outside of the legislature the last couple of years, an issue that has garnered organized efforts in both directions, and we are going to obtain as much information as we can as a study committee," State representative Trent VanHaaften (D), the committee's chairman, told the newspaper.
The committee has no power other than to make a recommendation to the legislature. But discussion on the issue now could lay the groundwork for action during the 2010 legislative session, the report said.
State Senator Phil Boots (R) told fellow lawmakers he plans to introduce a bill during the session that would expand Sunday alcohol sales and allow grocery stores to sell cold beer, said the report. Currently, Indiana law does not permit carryout alcohol sales on Sundays, restricting sales to bars, restaurants, taverns and sporting venues. Outside of those locations, liquor stores are the only establishments allowed to sell cold beer. Grocery and convenience stores must sell it warm.
"It's time to bring customer convenience to the marketplace and permit the carryout sales of alcohol on the second busiest shopping day of the week, Sunday," Boots told the paper. "It's time to remove Indiana's antiquated alcoholic beverage laws."
Asked why the issue of Sunday sales had not previously been considered by the legislature, Boots pointed to the powerful lobby interests on both sides. "The lobby group opposing this issue is very strong, and people have decided not to take this up," he said. "I guess I'll find out how strong they are now."
Several liquor storeowners, each emphasizing their status as a small-business owner, told lawmakers a change in the law would put them out of business. An extra day of sales, they argued, would add payroll costs without generating additional sales, instead spreading their current six days worth of sales over seven days.
"For us, this is about survival in the face of unfair and relentless competition of big-box retailers like Wal-Mart," John Livengood, president of the Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers, the organization that represents the liquor stores, told the Star.
Organizations representing grocery and convenience stores emphasized consumer convenience, arguing that Hoosiers are tired of an outdated law that does not allow them to buy their beer and liquor when it is most convenient.
"This is about giving customers, your voters, the freedom of choosing what they want to buy and when they want to buy it," John Elliott, a public affairs manager for Kroger, told the panel, according to the report.
VanHaaften said he intends to convene the committee for one more meeting October 20, when lawmakers will discuss the issue further and decide whether to make any recommendation to the legislature.
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