by Jennifer Tangeman
A local liquor store owner says beverage retailers are happy about a legislative recommendation to continue the ban on Sunday alcohol sales.
Tony Baldini, who has been in the family beverage retail business at D&J; Liquors for about 24 years, said he is against the sale of alcohol on Sundays for carry-out.
A state legislative study committee recently voted to keep Indiana’s alcohol restrictions in place. The committee denied the expansion of Sunday alcohol sales and the expansion of cold beer sales into an additional 2,300 grocery, drug and convenience stores.
Baldini said the restrictions helped to limit underage drinking and drunk driving.
“Because of the laws in Indiana, we are one of the lowest states in drunk driving,” Baldini said. “The laws on how we sell and regulate alcohol are the reason why that’s the case.”
John Livengood, CEO of the Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers, called the committee’s recommendation a “win for Hoosiers.”
“For two years, this committee has taken public testimony and heard from their constituents,” Livengood said. “Those lawmakers were appointed to this committee by the leadership of the House and the Senate. I’m confident that their recommendations will be taken seriously by their fellow legislators.”
The committee’s recommendation came as a defeat for a coalition made up of grocery stores, convenience stores and others. Among other arguments, the advocates contended that Indiana was sending residents to surrounding states to buy alcohol on Sundays.
Baldini said the argument didn’t carry much weight for most of the state.
“I think if you were on the outer edges of Indiana you might feel like you were losing business on Sunday to Ohio or Kentucky, wherever it may be,” Baldini said. “But from my viewpoint, yes, we like it just like it is.”
Advocates of the proposed changes say the current law favors liquor stores, which are closed on Sunday and which now have a monopoly on the sale of cold beer.
The Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association provided findings of a survey indicating that Hoosiers on average spend a dollar more for cold beer. The price survey looked at the prices at 149 liquor stores throughout the state.
“Hoosiers are forced to pay a ‘cold beer tax’ when they buy cold beer at Indiana liquor stores due to their almost complete control of cold beer sales,” said Scott Imus, executive director of the IPCA. “The time has come for an end to this unjustified monopoly so that consumers can reap the benefits of greater convenience and lower prices.”
Baldini said he agrees with the legislative panel’s decision against the expansion of cold beer sales, saying it will limit underage drinking.
“You have to be 21 to even enter my stores,” Baldini said. “That is something other stores cannot say.”
He said clerks at convenience stores also do not have to be of legal drinking age, making it easier for minors to obtain alcohol.
Imus and the IPCA say the opposite is true.
They cite a two-year study conducted by the Indiana State Excise Police finding that liquor stores were the most likely of all retailers to sell to minors. The study found that liquor stores sold to minors 40 percent of the time, while drug, grocery and convenience stores sold to minors at a rate of only 23 percent.
Although Baldini could not speak on behalf of all Hoosier liquor stores, he said his stores would not even allow minors on the premises.
“You need an ID to even come into my stores,” he said. “There are no exceptions to that.”
Imus said Indiana consumers were being punished by the lack of options for cold beer sales.
“We have a policy that costs Indiana residents millions of dollars each year for simply buying their beer cold, a policy that rewards a class of retailer shown to be the most irresponsible when it comes to selling to minors and a policy that is strongly opposed by Indiana consumers,” Imus said. “There is absolutely no public policy reason that justifies the continuation of this blatantly discriminatory practice.”
His organization and other supporters of the liquor law changes have vowed to take their fight to the Indiana General Assembly when it convenes next year.
Jennifer Tangeman is a reporter for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5148 or jennifer.tangeman@pharostribune.com.
