Lifting Sunday Sales Ban Will Be “Tough” on Area Package Store Owners
Decatur Metro | April 19, 2011The Emory Wheel gets reaction from area liquor store owners about a potential lifting of the Sunday sales ban in DeKalb County…
Ricky Ram, owner of Rocky’s Package Store located on Briarcliff Road, and Decatur Package Store owner Herb Cherrick said that the increase in alcohol sales will not outweigh the expenses necessary to keep stores open on Sundays because the legislation spreads out profits over six days and increases overhead costs. Ram, who said that many Emory students visit his store, during the academic year, explained that although there will likely be a large spike in revenues during the first weekend of each semester of the 2011-2012 school year, the increase does not justify an entire year of keeping the store open.
…“As a citizen, it makes sense, but as a business owner, it’s tough because I think it’s a fallacy to think that your business is going to grow by now being open on Sundays,” Cherrick said. He compared the situation to the introduction of the lottery when the first six months yield a short-term spike in revenue followed by a return to pre-Sunday sales level.
With much of his clientele inside Decatur-proper, Mr. Cherrick’s situation seems particularly difficult. New Sunday sales are one thing, but if DeKalb opted not to allow Sunday sales, while Decatur did, that really seems like it would have the potential of cutting into his bottom-line.
Silly Argument – he does not have to be open Sundays, he can choose to remain closed. Or am I missing something, are package store hours of operation regulated by the state?
If your competitors open on Sunday and you do not, you will likely lose revenue to the stores that choose to open. You may not see an increase in revenue by opening an extra day, but you will most certainly see a drop if you do not. Very few businesses can afford to be closed when their competetors are open (Chick-fil-A is a huge exception).
You can’t simultaneously argue that staying open on Sunday will lose business then argue that the operator open on Sunday will be at an unfair advantage.
If one assumes that there will be a negligable increase in the total amount of alcohol sales because of Sunday sales (which I think the owner of the liquor store is thinking), then all stores will see a drop in sales the other six days a week. Therefore a store would have to open on Sunday to reach their prior sales figures. It’s all speculation at this point, but the assumption is reasonable. If there is a negligable increase in alcohol consumption, then there will be increased convenience for the customer, but at a substantial increased cost to the retailer.
DEM’s answer below succinctly expresses why it is not a substantial cost to the operator.
This is a myth.
As a practical matter, current laws do allow for alchohol sales on Sunday only as long as the consumer drives an automobile home after drinking it. Reversing this incredibly stupid, dangerous policy should be done as soon as possible.
If marginal store operators can’t survive that change, then they should find another business model.
I don’t have a dog in this hunt. Couldn’t care less about Sunday liquor store sales. I was merely discussing the topic based on the interview with the store owner in the piece.
I would personally be skeptical about any reduction in bozos driving impaired on Sundays because the liquor store is open.
You might be surprised how many businesses are what you call “marginal”. Lots of them. Does not make them any less important, just more vulnerable.
The current ban on Sunday liquor sales seems to have only four logical purposes.
1.Use the government to establish one particular religious belief
2.Prop up marginal liquor store businesses
3.Encourage sports bar and restaurant drinking (then driving)
4. Keep Atlanta in first place as the moonshine capital of the nation
1) Just because Sunday sales are approved, nobody says a store must open. If it’s a money-losing proposition, good business sense would say don’t open, rather than open and lose money. The state does not regulate hours, other than general opening and closing times. The law does not require a store to be open on Sunday, or any other day of the week, for that matter.
2) There is not a full-service store within the Decatur City Limits that competes with Mr Cherrick with beer, wine, and spirits.
3) If DeKalb County did not opt for Sunday sales (not likely, IMO), it would be a rather substantial journey for a Decaturite to buy alcohol on Sunday, and many probably would not, so I don’t see him losing much business.
It is indeed silly. If the marginal costs of opening the store on Sunday exceed the marginal revenues, then don’t open. Simple as that. As for being open on Sunday not really growing a business, it seems like almost every other major retailer disagrees. Indeed, you’d think being open on Sunday is a huge boon, as customers are not at work and can drop by throughout the day. Not to mention the stocking up for football and parties that occurs on weekends.
I suspect that he’s not right about the cost/benefit analysis. The overhead of running a package store is pretty minimal. You open the door, turn on the lights, maybe hire a guy to man the counter, and that’s it. The booze is already sitting there on the shelves and in the fridge.
I’d be SHOCKED if DeKalb opted not to allow Sunday sales. DeKalb and Fulton, politically speaking, may be the most likely counties in the entire state to vote for it.
And yes, South Side, he could choose to be closed any days he wants. I get that they feel like they’d need to be open to compete with surrounding package stores, but I’m really not yet buying this argument.
I hope you’re right, but according to news reports, Black Democrats have been one of the largest opposition groups. That’s a significant chunk of Dekalb and Fulton’s population.
I support Sunday sales but gotta laugh at the tone of this thread, as though armchair blog commenters are more versed in the economics of running a liquor store than the people who actually have skin in the game. Let me tell ya how it’s done here now, boy…
Seriously, I think the liquor store issue is a valid one (though insufficient to sway the issue). Every political act creates winners and losers and, at the end of the day, it’s quite possible that liquor stores may be on the losing end of this one (not catastrophically, IMO, but I doubt there’ll be economic benefit for them). Part of the issue isn’t just what they will or won’t sell on Sundays. It’s also lost revenue during the week.
Sunday is one of the highest traffic days in grocery shopping. Until now, people who bought their groceries on Sunday had to make another trip somewhere else on another day to get their beer and wine for the week. Those people will, presumably, now be able to do all their shopping in one spot. It’s about convenience, which translates to impacted traffic during the week for liquor stores (at least among the beer and wine crowd).
Scott’s point about more people buying their beer and wine while grocery shopping on Sunday is probably true, but I still don’t buy that it will cut into their sales that much. When I can’t buy wine while grocery shopping on Sunday, I didn’t run to the liquor store first thing Monday morning. I just picked it up on my next shopping trip, which is to another grocery store 95% of the time.
I, for one, primarily shop at liquor stores only for liquor, which they have a monopoly on anyway, so grocery shopping shouldn’t impact. I generally buy wine and beer at grocery stores (for convenience) or specialty stores like Cook’s or Ale Yeah for their selection and knowledge. I only buy wine and beer at a liquor store IF the store has an exceptional selection and competitive prices. And even then, it’s usually only if I also need liquor.
No one is forcing them to open on Sunday, but if they now consider it essential, couldn’t they at least limit their hours on Sunday? Say, 12:00 to 5:00? They could easily offset those hours by closing (or at least having very limited hours) on a different, typically slow day of the week. Most hair salons and many restaurants do that.
I agree that it mostly boils down to that they don’t want to lose their competition-free day off.
“I agree that it mostly boils down to that they don’t want to lose their competition-free day off.”
That pretty much sums it up, IMO.
What is a package store anyway? I didn’t grow up with them and have actually never shopped in one despite living in Georgia for years. I vaguely remember package stores in New Hampshire years ago–you had to buy liquor there, there was no other option, I think. But what’s the point in Georgia–can’t you buy whatever you want elsewhere?
In Georgia, you can only buy liquor at package stores, and maybe at warehouse membership stores. Grocery and convenience stores sell beer and wine, but they do not sell liquor.
Whoops, I guess I’m revealing my lack of depth in alcoholic beverage consumption. Since I only buy wine, beer, and cooking sherry, I never noticed that “hard liquor” (still a term in use?) isn’t available in the grocery store or upscale takeout stores.
No, no, karrass– it’s “hard likker”. Remember where you are, darlin’.
Cooking sherry? Oh yuck, too salty. Go for the real thing. You can buy it at DFM. Keeps for a long time, and tastes so so much better.
But, I um, cook with it. Still don’t use cooking sherry? An alcohol aficianado I am not.
Your arteries and taste buds will both thank you if you swap out your cooking sherry with an inexpensive moderately dry sherry (Trader Joes sells a very nice Amontillado sherry for about $7 or $8 IIRC – and it’s mighty fine for sipping too!). Two tablespoons of cooking sherry has about 190 mg of sodium. If your dish needs the salt that would have been included, you can always add it.
Thanks to all for the sherry advice! Once again, Decatur Metro fosters the advancement of today’s modern households!
Rule of thumb: if you taste it and wouldn’t drink a glass of it, don’t put it in your food either.
But does the real stuff last very long after you open it? I tried it a long time ago and felt like the second time I used it, it was off.
It’s a fortified wine and will last longer than a regular wine, but not indefinitely. Serve the rest as an aperitif?
If you keep it somewhere dark, dry & cool, it will keep at least 6-8 mnths after you open it. Sweet (aka “cream”) sherry doesn’t keep as long as the dry.
Or use it some my mother’s Cherry Salad recipe:
Mix 1 package of Cherry Jello with 1 cup hot water. Stir for 2 minutes.
Drain juice from 1 can of sweet, dark cherries into measuring cup. Add sherry to make 1 cup. Stir in liquid and cherries. Refrigerate, uncovered, until congealed.
Yes, we can finally make this a recipe-swapping forum. ; – )
I’ve had this, this is good…but add pecans!
And since we are talking about cooking sherry…. dry vermouth keeps a while too and Julia Childs always used it as a sub for white wine in recipes. I never have white wine around mostly cause it seems I need it on a Sunday for a recipe. Maybe I won’t have that problem anymore…
Yeah, we always keep some vermouth and (non-cooking) sherry on hand. Both can be had for a pittance at YDFM. If I’m drinking wine with the meal, no problem using it in the dish, but more often than not, I don’t feel like killing a bottle for the sake of a recipe, so the vermouth is nice to have.
I’m getting hungry again!
Love me some Herb, but I think it comes down to that they just don’t WANT to be open on Sunday. It’s a tough call for sure, but such is the life of a small business owner.
Oh, wah wah. It’s a free market. Evolve or perish.
That sounds like great parental advice. “Evolve or parish kids!”
I would never send my kids to Louisiana, no matter how bad they acted. (parish the thought.)
Wait, so you have different standards for liquor stores and kids?? This is outrageous!
Awesome…!
Well, liquor stores manage in other states that have Sunday sales. What do they do?
They never had state manufactured scarcity factored into their models so they built their businesses around the realities of their environment. That’s probably the best illustration of what’s going to be necessary in the liquor store industry once these bans start getting lifted: Not so much an overhaul of their business models as much as a recalibration of their expectations. Different realities to factor in.
I think it’s Chereck, by the way. I’m a big fan of his and I hope the changes in the law work out for him and his business. I can see how getting caught between a Decatur client base and possibly a different DeKalb law could be a problem. As for me, I’m in favor of Sunday sales for the convenience factor.
(This information is not relevant to the discussion but just so you know, Herb is the guy who does 90% of the heavy lifting producing the Decatur Wine Festival, proceeds going to the Decatur Arts Alliance.)
Herb is awesome.
Which one is he – I have never asked but see three guys working frequently in the store: the darker complexion guy, the short guy with glasses, and the tall big guy.
You may not have met him behind the counter, DogLover. He’s got a sort of Yankee good looking thing going on.
I love me some Herb, too. The guys at Decatur Package are so knowledgeable and friendly, they are my go-to guys for all liquors and wines. If they don’t have it, they’ll order it or offer a suggestion for something comparable or better. If they want the day off on Sunday, I’ll just wait until Monday to get it.
Considering Georgia is one of like what – 3 states that currently do not have Sunday sales. Somehow a vast majority of the “package stores” have figured out the business model for Sunday alcohol sales. Don’t open on Sunday if you do not want to or think you cannot afford the overhead – otherwise [edited: no personal attacks] figure out how to run your business for one more day a week like most of the rest of the countries businesses do.
Chick Fil A doesn’t open on Sundays and does just fine. And before you tell me that wine I buy at Publix is the same as the wine I buy at the package store where as Chick fil a sandwiches are not the same as a chicken sandwich from Mickey D’s…. I will address your point.
The thing is the wine is substantially cheaper at the package store than at the grocery store. So I will continue to buy the majority of my wine at package stores even though they are closed on Sundays but I will occasionally buy a bottle at Publix in an emergency situation– a late invite to dinner or when I am running to my Sunday evening book club and forgot to get a bottle earlier in the week. I will not be throwing my weekly consumption of five bottles of wine into the cart on a regular shopping trip. I’ll save the extra bucks and make an extra stop at the package store.
Most of the wine we buy is not available in grocery stores, so we’d be a certain to patronise package stores on Sundays. I’m guessing that much of the hand-wringing on the part of the package store owners will dissipate after they get into the groove of being open (or not) on Sundays– most will find a way to accomodate the additional overhead & do just fine. The ones who don’t would probably have gone down anyway.
Boo fricking hoo.
Best post in this thread
Maybe someone needs to open a liquor store in Decatur.
I think they would allow that instead of a gas station because it would increase the walkability(whiledrunk) factor
Here’s a helpful suggestion for our liquor store owners – take Monday or Tuesday off.
I <3 Herb
BTW, wouldn’t “Ricky Ram” be an awesome name for a professional wrestler? Just sayin’…
…Sorry. Taken.
- Randy the Ram
[img]http://thecia.com.au/reviews/w/images/wrestler-poster-0.jpg[/img]
LOL! Sorry, “Randy”– no disrespect, brotha!
I’m sure it’s going to be a pain, but they should just be happy that liquor can’t be sold in a Publix or Walgreens like a lot of places I’ve been.
There’s no requirement that package store owners open on Sunday just because it’s legal, right? They can still choose 6 days a week if they want…
I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised by the first reaction of many in this post – since almost 4 million Decaturites favored lifting the ban in my unofficial poll – but I still sorta am.
So, first of all, I don’t believe any of the Package Store owners said “OH MY GOD, we’re doooomed!”. Herb just said it would be “tough”. Also, as far as I can tell the Emory Report approached the liquor store owners, not the other way around. So the “just be happy”, “waa waa”, etc stuff seems a little rough for someone giving their honest opinion on a situation.
Regardless of the larger circumstance, if someone came to any of you “suck it up” folks and said, “Guess what? You now should start working on Saturday!” I bet your responses would be less composed than the one quoted above. I know mine would be.
Like I said above, they can trade their day off on Sunday for one on Monday or Tuesday. They will sell far more booze on Sundays, which are a day off for a lot of people, than they will on Monday or Tuesday. And the greens fees will be much lower on their day off.
I think Herb said it best, ‘as a citizen, it makes sense.’ Damn right it does. Sunday’s ban is nothing more than prohibition wrapped up in antiquated blue law veil. And as many posters pointed out, Herb is heckuva fella and I hate to see him inconvenienced but this about my right to by some sherry on Sunday. Or peach schnapps, whichever the case may be.
I am an attorney and sometimes I do work on Saturdays. Sometimes Saturdays are the only days a client can meet with me. Sometimes its the only day we can schedule a mediation due to child care issues,etc. I also have the luxury of then taking off a Monday or whatever other day if I need to. You accommodate your client’s needs (to the extent you can maintain profitability) otherwise you will not be in business for very long.
Yeah, but you knew that going in. That’s the difference. People’s opinions of things are always based on comparative experiences and expectations.
So if you run a 6 day business for years and then need to be open 7 days, you’re probably going to be a little put out by it at first – especially if there’s no guaranteed upside. As a lawyer, you always knew you’d work Saturdays, so it’s no big deal.
BTW It’s the same reason why all transplants not from CT or Indiana especially hate this law.
Any liquor store owner should have known that the Sunday prohibition would end at some point, causing them to either work on Sunday, or choose not to open.
Yeah, but that doesn’t alter their past experiences of not having to work or worry about their open business on the seventh day.
I gotta say that some of you have gotten quite demanding. So not only do the liquor stores have to open on Sunday now, but they have to do it with no reservation in their minds?
Geez, I’m beginning to oppose this change based solely on how militant everyone has become about it.
In business, as in every other aspect of life, circumstances change. I think liquor stores are well equipped to adapt to this change, since most of them only have one or two employees on duty at any given time. It’s not like a package store owner is going to have to start paying 100 workes for another day of work every week.
And once again, they will NOT have to open on Sunday.
But they will be COMPELLED to open Sunday, no? I think that’s enough for us to try and give a business owner a little slack to express reservation at the change and not hit them with a barrage of “suck it up”s. That’s all I’m saying.
They’ll only be compelled to open if there is profit to be made. What is “tough” about a business making a profit?
I don’t think I ever said “suck it up” or anything like that.
Everyone should be allowed to feel however they want about whatever change comes along, but capitalism has never been known for its compassion, neither on the part of business owners or consumers.
Prices at retail are often “reverse engineered”, if Sunday sales do create more new expenses than new revenue, expect price increases.
This is a great, Is anyone on this thread an econ major (like me)?
Like I said originally, it is a matter of choice…
“Silly Argument – he does not have to be open Sundays, he can choose to remain closed.”
Whether or not he chooses to be open Sundays will be determined by a number of factors, most of which have been discussed so far. Herb will run the numbers, experiment a bit, look at the increased time commitment and impact to his family, and make a call.
It is all the extra effort of figuring out how to best adapt that will be tough.
AAAAAAANNNNNND they’re off…
Loganville, of all places, is the first one out of the gate:
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/loganville-first-in-metro-916364.html
If I lived in Loganville, I’d need to buy liquor on Sundays as often as possible.
Does anyone know what the markup on liquor is? I would be more inclined to feel sympathy for the liquor store owners if I heard it were only profiting .15 for every bottle sold.
As for people working on Sundays that didn’t have to before, it will be a change, and it won’t be fun. But things change in life, sometimes you just have to suck it up and adapt.
They are assuming it will be horrible and negatively impact profits right now, but no one really knows what the outcome will be. Maybe they will end up laughing all the way to the bank. Who knows…
So saying “it will be tough” is the opposite of “sucking it up”?
I don’t know about that, but I don’t think they’ve offered a credible explanation for why it will be “tough.” They’ve only offered speculation. I’m inclined to think their profits will go up and that they’ll eventually be pleased, based on the number of people I see with beer and wine in their carts on Sunday. Surely if people are attempting to buy beer and wine on Sunday, people will be buying liquor Sunday as well.
And let’s not forget all the people who need some hair of the dog on Sunday thanks to depleting their stock on Friday and Saturday.
Of course not, and this was just my personal opinion. No one has to agree.
It’s odd that’s part you focused on when I think the real deal is, “They are assuming it will be horrible and negatively impact profits right now, but no one really knows what the outcome will be. Maybe they will end up laughing all the way to the bank.”
You seem to have some sort of strong personal opinion on this story, and that’s a bit out of character for you.
I’m actually in favor of the change, and have no real dog in this fight. I’m just trying to balance out the conversation a bit. I’ve noticed when a large % of commenters disagree on an issue written in the body of post, it can turn into a pig-pile very quickly. And there’s nothing I dislike more than an unbalanced conversation!
In that vein, I don’t understand how “suck it up” fits into your real deal summation (which I agree with).
I tend to agree with RB, you’re unusually defensive on this issue. In fact, your defensiveness is in direct parallel to our militant desire for Sunday hooch. I feel so fair and equal now.
Good!
In your original response to me, you mentioned Mr. Cherrick’s particular quote, and while he was in the story, my “suck it up” comment wasn’t directed at him in particular. I could see where that would be the assumption, but really it wasn’t. I have seen many of the same comments over and over, from the for and against crowds, and my original comment was really meant in more general terms. What did it have to do with anything? Well, they seem to see opening the store as something negative to the bottom line, maybe if they try it, or suck it up as I put it, they may find it to be an advantage to it.
I really haven’t joined the discussion on this matter in the previous posts, because it’s not something I’m terribly interested in. But now that we’re here…
I keep seeing the comments by the restaurant folks and liquor store folks, that this will hurt both of their bottom lines, and we just don’t know. I don’t think you can really apply what has happened in other states to this situation, so it’s just a wait and see type of thing. I hope they are at least able to break even, and even profit as I do for all small businesses.
The flip side of the negative assumptions are, it will probably be great for the new businesses who generally have store owners manning the ship, and they get a chance to introduce their business/products to new customers, on a day when they normally wouldn’t have been able to. A couple of new/soon to be new businesses come to mind. So I guess “suck it up” probably wouldn’t apply to them at all actually.
This is a fairly family centric blog, but there are a whole range of people that don’t have kids, or don’t cook, and rarely go into a grocery store out there but they’re still spending their money. I doubt they will start going there on Sundays, just to get beer. They’ll probably go where ever they went before, and maybe even on a Sundays. I’m almost inclined to feel more sympathetic the wait staff of local restaurants, because people watching their budgets (everyone I know) will probably still show up for the ambiance and a drink or 2, but perhaps those people would then go to the store instead racking up big bills on alcohol on Sundays.
There are just too many individual variables to determine whether this measure will equal success or hurt their businesses. But right off the bat seeing it as a bad thing, I just don’t get.
I feel a level of sympathy for the store owners, because it really was thrown in their lap, but this change was inevitable. It has been brought up several times in the Legislature in recent years. Maybe they didn’t think it would have been so soon, but it would have happened. And I hope for their sake, the doomsday bottom line predictions are false, and they turn a great profit.
Here’s a map I’d like to see: Dekalb County and adjacent counties, with locations of stores that sell alcohol. I’ll bet the proprietors have various viewpoints depending on where they’re situated relative to other localities and how likely those localities might be to opt for Sunday sales.
BTW, DM, I don’t understand the last sentence of your original post, that if Dekalb stays dry and Decatur doesn’t, it could cut into Herb’s bottom line. Where, besides baby Kroger, Sherlock’s, the Hop ‘n’ Shop and teh new beer store, can I buy packaged alcohol inside the Decatur city limit? And none of them sells the hard stuff. (G & T season is officially open, you know.) I think what could hurt Herb is if Dekalb stays dry and Atlanta doesn’t. Green’s isn’t that far away, nor is the place on Moreland just south of L5P.
You may be right. But I buy a decent amount of beer and wine from Herb’s, so that’s where I was coming from. More of a casual observation than anything else.
Is it really G&T season already?
“Is it really G&T season already?”
I don’t usually call it before Easter and some may be holding out, but it was HOT last week!
Does the Marathon at College and Commerce sell beer?
I think it’s perfectly fair for people to say “suck it up” to the liquor store owners. The liquor store lobby fought hard against Sunday sales for decades. That means they put their preferences against my freedoms.
We’ve all suffered at the hands of these rent seekers. Suck it up, I say.