Is the purchase of liquor something that can’t be planned for? We long have scoffed at the laws that ban some liquor sales on election day – would people really be unable to buy their stock prior to, and get sloshed on election day regardless? Well, maybe.
Just as Idaho’s largest county (Ada) is preparing to join about half of the state’s other counties in allowing liquor store sales on Sundays, the other two Northwest states are reviewing their own experience, and finding an apparently enlarged marketplace. You might suspect that allowing Sunday sales would do little to sell more liquor – knowing the stores are closed on Sundays, wouldn’t you just buy ahead on Saturday? But evidently not everything is thinking ahead to do that.
The Seattle Times is reporting today on the Washington experience since, two years ago, the state opened liquor sales on Sundays. The business has, it turns out, grown tremendously. When the change occurred, state officials were figuring sales might increase by close to $10 million a year as a result; our thought at the time was that they were being a little optimistic. Turns out not: According to the Times, “Instead, Sunday sales have exceeded projections by nearly 60 percent and now the State Liquor Control Board expects $15.1 million will be collected on Sundays during the current biennium, which ends June 30.”
That’s no aberration. Oregon allowed some Sunday sales about three years ago, and sales overall have risen variously between 9.2% and 19.6%. Pennsylvania, which took similar action about the same time, reported a similar experience.
Maybe, some things you just can’t plan for.
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