By Kat Boushee

I will admit it: I have driven to Massachusetts to buy liquor on a Sunday. Once, my friends and I drove to New Hampshire after finding the Massachusetts stores closed due to a holiday. Sometimes, despite your best intentions, you find yourself with no alcohol the night of a big bash or impromptu get-together.

I remember living in New York City and marveling at the “bagel stores” that sold beer and embarrassing myself by saying to one of my sorority sisters in a matter-of-fact manner that, of course we couldn’t buy alcohol, it was Sunday! When I was newly 21, I railed against Connecticut for banning liquor sales on Sundays. I thought that there was no reason to ban liquor sales other than antiquated laws made up by people who must want to join my parents in the “Spoil Kat’s Fun Club.”

However, I can now see the flip side of the issue, and I am against an across the board repeal of this law at this time. The people who would most benefit from this law being repealed are not the angry barbecue crowd, nor is that crowd the most well-connected, generally speaking. No, the well-connected people behind such legislation are the large supermarket chains. They benefit much more than any local liquor store would from such legislation.

Locally owned liquor stores are, of course, closed in Connecticut on Sundays. To remain open an extra day would entail paying employees for those hours, and in some cases, even hiring new employees if they do not have the available man-power. Liquor stores that are family businesses would be forced to give up their only day off or hire new employees to work the Sunday shift.

At this point you may be thinking to yourself, “Why can’t locally-owned liquor stores just continue on as before and not open on Sunday if it will tax their resources so much?” Good question. The problem is, their competition will be open on Sunday. Liquor stores cannot afford to lose those last-minute Saturday sales that prepare for Sunday, but those sales will not be necessary if the grocery chain down the street is selling beer all day Sunday.

Another problem is that we humans are creatures of habit. We, as a rule, like to go to the same places to make our routine purchases. If one store is open seven days a week selling a product you wish to purchase, and another is open Monday through Saturday, you may get out of the routine of shopping at that second store. While shoppers who are already out buying groceries will surely appreciate the convenience of buying their alcohol at the grocery store, I believe it will severely limit the amount of customers who stop by their local liquor retailer.

I do agree that our liquor laws are outdated at best, but I think that we need to think of ways to protect local liquor stores when considering new alcohol legislation. It may take time easing into these laws, but I firmly believe that it will be worth it in the jobs that are saved.