Stores Across Indiana Prepare For Sunday Sales

With Sunday carry-out sales receiving the stamp of approval from Gov. Eric Holcomb Wednesday, stores are busy preparing for this weekend.

Most bills passed in Indiana go into effect July 1.

But at Wednesday’s signing of the Sunday sales bill, House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) said Wednesday at the bill’s signing, its implementation was expedited because the public was aware of the issue.

“We had a bona fide discussion as to why wait? Everyone knows about it, everyone’s read about it, no one could come up with a good reason,” Bosma said.

Nathan Kuchler is the general manager at a Village Bottle Shop liquor store in West Lafayette and says the quick action has been the challenging part.

“We started probably about two and a half weeks ago, getting ready for it,” Kuchler says. “We’ve already hired one new person to come work for us, we’re probably shooting to hire another one just to make sure all our bases are covered.”

Kuchler says he does expect some traffic this Sunday just based on the novelty of the day and will monitor demand to determine future staffing on Sundays.

“It’ll be kind of a feeling out period at the get-go to see if, you know, do we just need to have one person here all day or two bodies in the store to cover the extra business,” says Kuchler.

However, he sees Sunday sales picking up during certain times of the year.

“I think that when we have football season kick in, Memorial weekend, Labor Day weekends where there’s the long weekend where you couldn’t purchase now we’ll be able to provide that service,” says Kuchler.

This Sunday marks the first time in the state’s history that Sunday sales are legal at grocery and liquor stores.