Proposed bill would allow package stores to be open on Sunday in Texas

January 30, 2019, 05:46 PM

ZSMICHAEL

For those not living in the Bible belt these things are hard to understand. Liquor stores here in Mississippi are closed on Sunday. In neighboring Louisiana, packaged liquor is available at the gas station. Of course liquor by the drink is 24 hours per day when served in the casino.

It all makes little sense to me.

January 30, 2019, 06:13 PM

1967Goat

Colorado also had blue laws like that, but we've managed to get rid of most of them pertaining to alcohol. Gas stations and supermarkets had to sell 3.2% alcohold max. Liquor stores were closed on Sunday as well. Silliness.

January 30, 2019, 06:14 PM

Il Cattivo

There are package stores in Texas? I thought that was some kind of Oklahoma thing.

January 30, 2019, 06:18 PM

chellim1

When I was a freshman at the University of Dallas, before school even began, I went to the PDQ, across the street to get some beer.
When I couldn't find any in the cooler... I went to the counter and asked: "Where's the beer?"
The response was: "This is a dry county."
My next question was: "What's a dry county?"

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible."
-- Justice Janice Rogers Brown

"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth."
-rduckwor

January 30, 2019, 06:41 PM

maladat

quote:
Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
There are package stores in Texas? I thought that was some kind of Oklahoma thing.

I've never heard anyone in Texas ever call a liquor store a package store.

quote:
Originally posted by chellim1:
When I was a freshman at the University of Dallas, before school even began, I went to the PDQ, across the street to get some beer.
When I couldn't find any in the cooler... I went to the counter and asked: "Where's the beer?"
The response was: "This is a dry county."
My next question was: "What's a dry county?"

Angelina County in East Texas was dry from 1936 until 2007.

There's a story about a contentious election in the 50s or 60s to determine if Angelina County would stay dry. When the group promoting keeping the county dry won, they celebrated by driving to the next county over and buying a bunch of whiskey.

January 30, 2019, 07:03 PM

No booze on Sunday. That’s crazy.

So it’s Sunday and you have no beer or liquor in the house. You want to watch a game or hang out with friends. Busy week working and you never went shopping. You can go to a bar or restaurant and get shit-faced over-the-limit drunk but you can’t buy booze to take home and drink in the safety of your home.

January 30, 2019, 07:25 PM

lunchbox

It just shows you that the “free” states aren’t as free as you think. Washington might be a left wing hell hole but I can buy booze 7 days a week.

January 30, 2019, 08:02 PM

furlough

Liquor stores that sell hard liquor have to be closed on Sundays here, but you can buy beer and wine on Sunday at any place that normally sells it. But not until noon - gotta go to church, right?

And yes, I have been that guy at a QT at 11 AM on a Sunday with a 12-pack because I was gone all week and the Cowboys are playing at noon only to have the squeaky-voiced teenager working the register say “Ummm, sir?”

About time for these blue laws to go away.

January 30, 2019, 08:04 PM

car541

Most of these laws are still on books because the people running the businesses want it that way. If liquor store owners are allowed to be open 7 days then all of them have to be open 7 days, causing a 16% increase in labor costs for essentially the same total sales.

Car dealers are also closed on sundays in Texas by law, and the dealer associations want it that way.

January 30, 2019, 09:18 PM

flesheatingvirus

Good. Dump ALL blue laws. I grew up in the Bible Belt. I now live in a small town just outside Albuquerque. No sales on Sunday, so I have to drive into the city to spend my money.

Of course, Sunday is when I realize I need that bottle of wine for my marinara recipe, or that I'm out of beer.

Dammit.

________________________________________

-- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. --

January 30, 2019, 09:30 PM

StarTraveler

A guy from Canada moved to the south to join my company about 20 years ago. He’d been in the states for a few weeks when he asked me what Americans did with all the packages we bought from all those the package stores he was seeing everywhere.

January 30, 2019, 11:09 PM

OKCGene

I recall many times going to various Costco stores in the DFW area at opening time, and at the cashier finding out that they can't sell alcohol, beer or wine until noon. I'm going to buy the things I want and get on the road back to OKC yet have to wait until noon to pay.

Additionally, in Texas, if IIRC, only one Costco in the DFW area can sell alcohol, the rest can only sell wine and beer.

January 30, 2019, 11:15 PM

Balzé Halzé

quote:
Originally posted by lunchbox:
It just shows you that the “free” states aren’t as free as you think. Washington might be a left wing hell hole but I can buy booze 7 days a week.

I'll take the silly liquor laws in Utah 7 days a week and twice on Sunday for the freedom I enjoy in most everything else, particularly guns.

I'm never for lack of booze. One just needs to plan ahead.

January 30, 2019, 11:19 PM

Gustofer

MT liquor stores are state owned (and taxed thusly

). They are all closed on Sunday.

However, bars can sell package liquor any day and any time between 0800 and 0200.

It works.

January 30, 2019, 11:25 PM

rusbro

Good.

I remember there was a bunch of other random stuff you couldn’t buy on Sunday in Texas until 1985. It was insane.

January 30, 2019, 11:46 PM

flashguy

quote:
Originally posted by chellim1:
When I was a freshman at the University of Dallas, before school even began, I went to the PDQ, across the street to get some beer.
When I couldn't find any in the cooler... I went to the counter and asked: "Where's the beer?"
The response was: "This is a dry county."
My next question was: "What's a dry county?"

The situation in Dallas used to be even more bizarre--within Dallas County areas were either "wet" (booze allowed) or "dry" depending on the voting precinct. There were irregular-shaped patches of city all over that were wet and others that were dry--one side of the street allowed liquor and the other side didn't.

It didn't bother me because I don't drink, but it always seemed very odd to me.

quote:
Originally posted by rusbro:
Good.

I remember there was a bunch of other random stuff you couldn’t buy on Sunday in Texas until 1985. It was insane.

Yep. IIRC you could buy nails on Sunday but not a hammer. There were a lot of seemingly nonsensical items on the Blue Laws.

flashguy

January 31, 2019, 05:27 AM

Woodman

It seems there was less craziness in the world when even taverns were closed on Sundays (until 4pm?). The craziness was probably there but the breathless reporting, blanket coverage, was not.

Now you can buy beer, wine, and booze at the grocery store. A local convenience chain, Wawa, is putting beer coolers and a consumption area in one of their stores. More inexperienced impaired drivers on the road. More business for the State Police.

January 31, 2019, 06:22 AM

Blackmore

quote:
Originally posted by Gustofer:
MT liquor stores are state owned (and taxed thusly ).

In NH the state runs the liquor monopoly, too, but price very competitively to draw buyers from other states. Open at 9:00 seven days a week and even have stores at Interstate rest areas to make it easier for the tourists.

January 31, 2019, 08:12 AM

mcrimm

quote:
Originally posted by Gustofer:
MT liquor stores are state owned (and taxed thusly ). They are all closed on Sunday.

Actually they are not owned by the state. The state controls the delivery of liquor to the stores and the stores wholesale to the bars.

About 20 years ago, Montana sold all of their stores, on a sweetheart deal, to the managers of the respective stores. As a commercial banker, I was involved in a couple of these sales. They were great deals for the new owner. Although we sometimes refer to them as State Stores, they are private.