Should Northfield's Liquor Store Open On Sundays?

NORTHFIELD, MN — In March, Gov. Mark Dayton signed Chapter 6, House File 30, a bipartisan bill to give liquor stores in Minnesota the option to open on Sundays beginning on July 2, 2017. The bill passed with bipartisan support in the Minnesota House (88-39) and Minnesota Senate (38-28). That means Northfield city officials will need to decide if the off-sale municipal liquor store in town will open its doors on Sundays come July.

No private liquor stores are allowed in Northfield.

• Should the Northfield liquor store open on Sundays? Tell us what you think in the comments!

The Northfield City Council discussed the topic earlier this week, Northfield News reported:

The current store hours are from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Store Manager Stephen DeLong laid out some of his thoughts for the council.

He noted that once the law goes into effect, there will be potentially 27 Sundays open for business in the rest of 2017. He said that would take 418 staff hours to fill those days, which he equated to about $7,500 in labor expense. He said that can possibly be cut to $4,000 in additional expense by trimming the rest of the week’s schedule.

The topic was brought forward for discussion only Tuesday, but the council will still need to approve an ordinance change, as current language explicitly bans Sunday sales. Councillors expressed interest in making that change before the state law goes into effect in July.

Read much more at Northfield News.

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