LEXINGTON, Ky. — Lexington leaders are preparing to extend alcohol sales hours on Sundays to resemble its other six days of sales.
Big Daddy liquor store sits less than a block from the University of Kentucky.
Yuba Dughana has owned the store for four years, where he’s watched a diverse crowd enter and leave his doors with their hands full.
“Celebrate all the combined peoples plus some of the campus students — and they do tailgate and they enjoy it,” Dughana said.
While he’s busiest Thursday through Friday, Sundays are now on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council’s agenda to help the city’s local business and tourism see revenue and growth.
Recently they discussed expanding alcohol sales hours on Sundays to accommodate Lexington restaurants, stores, and more.
This means both the current start time of 1p.m. for liquor sales and 11 a.m. for beer and wine sales would be changed to as early as 6 a.m.
There are several leaders are on board with the new proposal.
“I too have had members of the restaurant community and the tourism community have asked and asked for this change and when you look at surrounding communities and communities just like ours, they are also similarly changing,” Lexington Fayette Urban County council member Preston Worley said at a recent work session.
But there are also members who are against the plan.
Veteran council member Fred brown said the current times were a decision he first supported.
First-year council member Tayna Fogle says that as someone recovering from addiction and actively helping others, she’s remaining against the expansion.
For Dughana, increasing the hours means more revenue at the end of the weekends.
But for restaurants and bars opening for brunch, growing these hours could allow them to open doors sooner and close them later on Sundays.
Dughana says retailers would compete with bars and food chains for sales. “Especially because after 10 o’clock people go to the bar rather than in the liquor stores,” he said.
Dughana says time changes might affect daily routines and that he is a fan of the current set of times.
In the meantime, the fate of expanded alcohol sales lies with the urban county council. The next meeting on the issues is set for Nov. 14.