Liquor sales on Sundays? Happy hour and bottomless mimosas? NC may loosen alcohol laws

North Carolina may soon allow its liquor stores to open on Sundays and most holidays and let bars and restaurants offer discounted alcohol sales.

An omnibus alcohol bill was debated in the state House Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee on June 26. The legislation is Senate Bill 527, which as of Friday had 36 pages of changes to state’s alcohol laws.

But Sunday liquor sales might not happen in Cumberland County, as the chair of the Board of Commissioners said she sees no need for them. The legislation says Sunday and holiday hours would be subject to her board’s approval.

The chair, Toni Stewart, also expressed reservations about allowing the drink discounts. The Board of Commissioners would decide whether discounts on alcoholic beverages would be allowed in bars and restaurants outside the city and town limits.

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Open ABC stores on Sundays and holidays?

In North Carolina, bottles of liquor may be sold only in government-operated Alcoholic Beverage Control stores.

While people may buy beer, wine and mixed drinks from privately owned stores, bars and restaurants on any day of the week, the government-owned liquor stores by law are closed on Sundays and on New Year’s Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

The omnibus alcohol bill would let the government-owned liquor stores operate on Sundays and on all holidays except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Lee Boughman, the chairman of the Cumberland County Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, said he personally prefers that the stores stay closed on Sundays in the interest of maximizing profits. The change would shift some sales from Saturdays to Sundays, he said, but sales overall would not grow much versus the cost of staffing the stores on Sundays.

Profits and some taxes from county ABC store sales go to the Cumberland County government. In the 2021 fiscal year, that totaled $5.9 million.

In the first 11 months of this past fiscal year, the total was nearly $5.5 million, Boughman said. This does not include data for June, the 12th month.

Boughman said he would defer to the wishes of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners on this matter. The legislation says store hours would not expand to Sundays and holidays unless the organization that appoints the members of the local ABC Board approves. In Cumberland County, that organization is the county commission.

Stewart, the commission chair, said she does not want to open the liquor stores on Sundays and holidays.

“It doesn’t make sense to me to do it on Sunday and holidays because people will, you know, just do what they’ve been doing,” she said. “If they want it for the holidays, they prepare for it. Sunday  — they will just buy it the day before.”

Happy hour and bottomless mimosas — banned in the 1980s

North Carolina banned drink discounts in the 1980s during a period in which the state was attempting to reduce drunken driving. The price of an alcoholic beverage must stay the same throughout the business day, and cannot be changed until the next business day.

That means no “happy hour” drink specials are allowed, in which a lower price is offered for part of a day. Also, some restaurants over the years have gotten in trouble for illegally offering all-you-can-drink “bottomless” mimosas at Sunday brunch.

It is also illegal for a restaurant to include an alcoholic beverage in the price of a meal.

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The legislation would make such drink specials legal — provided that the local municipal or county government approves them.

Stewart disagreed with allowing happy hours and all-you-can-drink alcoholic beverages. “I would definitely be concerned with drunk driving, driving while impaired, in all of that kind of stuff,” she said.

She did not have an objection to allowing restaurants to include alcoholic beverages in the price of a meal.

Mitch Colvin, the Fayetteville mayor, likes the idea of the discounts. Colvin is one of the owners of a downtown restaurant that sells alcoholic beverages.

“I could see the benefit of that,” he said. “Traveling around, other states and other communities have that. And I was a little surprised when I found out it wasn’t allowed in North Carolina.”

The legislature is bringing North Carolina’s alcohol laws in line with society’s standards, Colvin said. “That’s certainly a progressive stance that I think will be good for business and commerce,” he said.

Senior North Carolina reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@fayobserver.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: NC considers legalizing Sunday liquor sales, happy hour discounts