(NETWORK IN) The Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers says they are ready to work with your lawmakers at the statehouse in drafting legislation that will effectively make it legal in Indiana to buy alcohol on Sundays.
This isn’t the first time the group which represents Indiana’s liquor stores has supported Sunday sales, having backed a bill in 2015 that died before a vote.
“It’s time. Indiana’s ban on Sunday sales is antiquated,” says Jon Sinder who chairs the Indiana Association for Beverage Retailers. “It impacts small business owners by forcing us to close our doors one day a week.”
A study committee is researching its feasibility and is also looking at cold beer sales at convenience stores, something the Association has historically been against.
Convenience store owner Jay Ricker, a prominent support of cold beer sales in Indiana, says that the IABR’s backing of Sunday sales is great, but that it’s to mask their opposition to cold beer sales at gas stations and grocery stores.
“Cold beer is what it’s all about. I think they’re trying to do an end run,” Ricker says. “It’s good that they’ve said that, but the reason they’re doing it is they think they can give that and not have to give anything else. They’ve been kicking and shoving all the way.”
Ricker says in order for any type of Sunday sales legislation to be viable, it has to include cold beer sales on Sundays as well. He says the temperature of beer is what this entire process has been all about.
Sinder says it’s all about money for gas stations when it comes to cold beer.
Gas stations and their lobbyists are trying to change the law in a way that puts Hoosiers at Risk just to help their bottom line,” Sinder continued. “We don’t sell toothpaste. We sell a product that can kill when sold irresponsibly.”
The summer study committee will make recommendations on the state’s alcohol laws to the General Assembly when the next legislative session comes around. Sinder says he’s confident that a Sunday sales bill can pass.
