COLUMBUS - A neighborhood market is on track to become the first in the state to sell bottles of liquor on Sundays.
Voters last week agreed to allow Huffman's Market in the city's Upper Arlington area to sell wine and liquor beginning at 10 a.m. on Sundays. The market's contract with the state currently allows it to sell wine after 1 p.m. and beer after 10 a.m. on Sundays.
People would come in and want to buy product on Sundays and couldn't
store owner Tim Huffman said yesterday. It's just an outdated law that doesn't apply to what people are doing now.
Individual stores have been able to petition local voters for Sunday liquor sales since 1999, but Huffman's was the first to attempt the change, said Rae Ann Estep, superintendent of the state Division of Liquor Control.
Huffman said he began circulating a petition in January to get the measure on the March 2 ballot. About 85 percent of residents in the precinct where the market is located voted for the Sunday sales.
Estep said the state won't change its contract with Huffman's Market until the election is certified, which usually takes about a month. Huffman's contract then would be amended to allow liquor and wine sales from 10 a.m. to midnight.
A bill being considered by state lawmakers would allow all stores to sell liquor on Sunday. A majority of states already allow the Sunday sales.
Unless lawmakers act, changes to stores' contracts will be handled individually, Estep said. The division does not have a position on the legislation.
If we have other agency stores that want to circulate a petition for site specific changes ... we'll treat them the same as we treated Huffman's Market she said, adding that she did not know of any other petition attempts.
Huffman said alcohol sales make up about 25 percent of his business, and Sundays rank second only to Saturday for overall sales.
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