Editorial: Shaking up the blue laws

Written by Maggie Caldwell
Thursday, 19 January 2012 17:36

Gov. Dan Malloy has announced plans to shake up the state's liquor laws — some of which date to the Prohibition era — in an effort to give a jolt to the state economy.

The two major parts of the law would allow for the sale of alcohol on Sundays, certain holidays and on Mondays that come after Sunday holidays, and the elimination of minimum pricing with the aim of driving down costs for consumers.

We believe straight up that this a welcome change that would lift Connecticut out of Boardwalk Empire days and bring it into the 21st Century. Gov. Malloy cited statistics that Connecticut wine and liquor retailers may be losing as much as $570 million in sales each year to surrounding states because of blue law policy. That number, coupled with the lingering hangover of the Great Recession, should be reason enough to back his proposed legislation to be introduced in the next session.

While it has yet to be seen whether Sunday sales will just reduce Saturday purchases making the whole point moot, as some local retailers contend, anyone who lives in this area knows well the pain of making a border run to pick up a six-pack for the Sunday game. We can't see how this tradition, based in antiquated and muddled laws, has not meant lost revenue for many of our businesses.

All our legislators are calling for more business-friendly practices in this state. Well, let's make Connecticut competitive with neighboring states in this industry. Let's allow local businesses more flexibility to decide if they want to sell these products, and how late they want to keep their doors open to do so. Let's offer consumers more options and later hours so that they spend their dollars in this state.

Instead of keeping stores dark on Sundays, we should back this proposed legislation and keep Connecticut "open for business."

Cheers to that!

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