Pennsylvania Gets Taste of Sunday Liquor Sales

Bottles of bourbon and Bordeaux were for sale in Pennsylvania on Sunday for the first time since Prohibition.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board opened 61 stores across the state Sunday -- roughly 10% of Pennsylvania’s 638 stores -- under a program that won legislative approval last year.

Many consumers welcomed the start of the two-year trial program, but critics said Sunday alcohol sales would only widen the damage alcohol can do.

“A lot of people think that Sundays are a day for families and a day for God and that it’s inappropriate to sell things,” said Jonathan Newman, chairman of the state liquor board. “But this is 2003, and the modern reality is that Sunday is the second-most popular shopping day of the week.”

Protests were held outside several stores. Half a dozen people held signs outside a Philadelphia store that read “A liquor control board? What a joke” and “Sunday sales end with Monday mourning.”

John Dennis, the manager of a liquor store in Philadelphia, said he had heard nothing but positive feedback from customers.

“The way I see it is the state is responding to consumer demand,” he said.

Customer John Goodwin, 43, said he understood why some might be opposed to Sunday sales, but that he was happy with the new program.

“I think it’s great. You have to be 21, you have to be an adult,” Goodwin said. “It’s more convenient than getting it on Saturday.”