Gov. Bill Ritter has pledged to sign a bill allowing Sunday liquor sales — a move that prompted a threat from convenience stores, who stand to lose revenue from the law.
Ritter’s office said today that the governor would sign the bill in a ceremony inside the Capitol Monday morning.
The bill, which would take effect in July, would allow liquor stores to open on Sundays. Liquor retailers cheered the move, but convenience stores and grocers — which, with only a few exceptions, are limited to selling 3.2 percent beer — said it will make the existing unfair system even more lopsided.
“Unfortunately, signing the bill will not achieve necessary regulatory reforms to provide a level playing field and gives liquor stores basically a monopoly on all liquor sales,” said Mark Larson, executive director of the Colorado Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association.
He said 80 percent of convenience stores’ beer sales occur on Sunday.
In exchange for what liquor stores are getting, convenience stores and grocers wanted legislation allowing them to sell full-strength beer, but that move was blocked in the House. Larson said supporters still are trying to get a late bill moving in the Senate, but if that doesn’t work, the next step is an initiative petition.
Scott Chase, a lobbyist for two dozen of the largest liquor retailers in the state, was unfazed by the threat.
“It’s no surprise that the out-of-state grocery and convenience stores want to bypass the legislature and the governor with a ballot initiative,” Chase said, “but we’re confident that the voters will reject it the same way it was rejected this year in the legislature, because it hurts Colorado’s family-owned liquor stores and will hurt Colorado’s economy.”
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
