2021 – A first for Sunday beer sales in Sumter stores General election referendum passed and helped ‘shop local’ theme, officials say BY BRUCE MILLS
BY THE NUMBERS 108
Number of Sumter County retailers that obtained the seven-day beer and wine license in 2021. Source: S.C. Department of Revenue
76 |
2022-20 2 3 L I F E I S G O O D IN S U M TER
Last year was the first time that adults could buy beer and wine from stores in Sumter on Sundays, and area officials see the change as a benefit both to customers and retail businesses. Area grocery store and liquor store owner Ricky McLeod said Sumter retailers previously lost out on Sunday alcohol sales to neighboring counties that allowed seven-day licenses to grocery stores, gas stations and convenience stores. With the November 2020 general election, that changed. Sumter voters, by a two-thirds majority, supported allowing alcohol sales seven days a week. By the end of 2021, 108 Sumter County businesses had applied and been approved by the state Department of Revenue for what is officially called a seven-day, off-premise, beer and wine license. The license allows the holder to sell beer and wine for off-premise consumption only. The retail permit in Sumter was previously for six days, excluding Sundays. For several years now, Sumter has allowed restaurants and bars to sell beer, wine and liquor for on-site consumption on Sundays. State law still prevents liquor sales in stores on the first day of the week. With the change, retailers have gained by being able to sell the beer and wine they already stock on an extra day of the week, and more tax dollars are spent in the Sumter community as opposed to outside it. McLeod, who owns three Piggly Wiggly grocery stores in Sumter and a total of eight in the region, said he assumes many grocery stores obtained the permit last year. McLeod added he thinks there is a convenience benefit to the customer and also a general benefit to some extent to the community with less drunken driving on Saturday nights. Before the change, he said, every Saturday night between 11:15 and midnight his stores and others would be filled with people loading up on beer for Sunday when they were already drunk. “People were already drinking on Saturdays and would say, ‘Oh, heck, we got to go buy beer for tomorrow,’ and they are out there driving drunk,” McLeod said. “They don’t have to do that now. That’s the positive that I got out of the whole thing.” Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Hardy said it would be the middle of this year before any economic impacts in the form of added sales taxes could be derived from the state Department of Revenue. Hardy added he expects the local retail business count for Sunday alcohol sales permits will increase each year.
