CONNECTICUT SUNDAY SALES DRAW CLOSER

As hard as Connecticut retailers have fought it, Sunday sales of alcohol appear to be more and more a looming reality. Although the state’s Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s proposal to change state alcohol sales laws was recently scaled back by the General Law Committee, Sunday sales stayed in the bill. Plans to deregulate ownership and pricing were cut however. The new bill allows for Sunday sales from 1Oam to 5pm. It is currently with both chambers of the General Assembly. The Connecticut Package Stores Association gave in on Sunday sales, which it fought for decades, but won the fight against Malloy’s plans to relax price controls and ownership restrictions. The association believes those items would be a disaster for family-owned package stores. Malloy’s proposal would have allowed alcohol sales from 8am to 1Opm seven days a week. The revised law keeps the current 9pm closing time for package stores and beer sales in grocery stores. Restaurants and bars must still close by 1am on weeknights and 2am on Friday and Saturday evenings. The Governor’s bill would have allowed them to stay open and serve alcohol until 2am every day.