Sunday Liquor Sales Greeted with Mixed Reactions by Granbys Store Owners

For the first time in its 37 years of business, Carmine Pandolfi’s will be open this Sunday.

“It was inevitable,” a resigned Pandolfi said.

Indeed, after years of discussion on the elimination of one of the more well-known Blue Laws still on the books, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a statute enabling the sale of alcohol by liquor stores and supermarkets on Sundays, as well as Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day. The governor signed the legislation earlier this week.

Nearly every liquor store in Granby and East Granby will either be open this Sunday or, at the very least, the Sunday preceding Memorial Day.

Let Patch save you time. Get great local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone every day with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.

Yet most will do so somewhat reluctantly, despite being located in so-called “border” towns - those adjacent to either Massachusetts or New York, where Sunday liquor sales were already permitted.

Marianna Rossetti, owner of   in Granby, expressed the prevailing attitude among area liquor store owners and managers when she said that she had mixed emotions about the law.

On the one hand, Rossetti said she would like to provide an additional service to her customers. On the other, Rossetti said that she’s not looking forward to sacrificing the one guaranteed day off she had during the week.

“I go to church and tend to my family on Sundays, not work seven days a week,” said Rossetti, who said that she was still on the fence as to whether her store would be open this Sunday. “It’s a convenience for the customer. But it’s sad that we’ve taken away for all of us to have a day off.”

Sergio Castro, owner of the and in East Granby, also said that he was undecided whether his stores would be open this Sunday, but that his stores would definitely be open on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.

Casto said that he would conduct a slow rollout of Sunday openings “until people get in the habit” of buying alcohol on the new day.

For Castro, the issue wasn’t so much about having Sundays off as whether the added day would bring in additional profits.

“If we do it and have it be profitable, then I have no problem with it,” Castro said. “It adds a convenience for the customer for sure.”

Scott Wundt, the owner of in Granby, was the only proprietor who said that he was looking forward to opening this Sunday.

“We’ll be open from 10 [a.m.] to 5 [p.m.],” he said. “Later down the line, we’ll look at the pattern and adjust accordingly and reasonably.”

Wundt said that he has been in favor of the change in the law for “quite some time.”

“I live in Southwick [MA] and I always see a bunch of Connecticut plates on Sunday [in front of liquor stores],” said Wundt, who added that while store owners in the middle of the state probably won’t be affected, he anticipates seeing higher returns for his establishment. “I have a store five miles away from the Massachusetts border. The reality is we are losing business on this day and we should be able to be open.”