Alcohol sales get green light - Palmetto's blue law, which prohibits alcohol sales on Sundays, lifted for New Year's Eve

PALMETTO -- If you live in Palmetto, New Year's Eve will be a rare opportunity to buy alcohol on a Sunday within city limits.

The City of Palmetto's so-called "blue law" prohibits the sale of alcohol on Sundays, except for when Christmas or New Year's fall on a Monday. The law does not effect restaurant owners with a liquor license or others with a special license issued by the city.

Merchants in downtown Palmetto say the exception resulted in higher liquor sales last weekend, and they anticipate higher sales again this weekend. They question the ordinance, however, and say all their customers have to do is cross the border into Bradenton or Ellenton to buy alcohol on Sundays.

"It's very frustrating," says Jonathan Leal, managing partner at the Wine Warehouse on Eighth Avenue. "You're just sending your tax dollars to another city, when you could be keeping them here. It seems strange to send (business) across the bridge or to Ellenton."

Leal contacted his customers through e-mail to let them know he would be open Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. A lot of people turned up to buy alcohol for the holidays, he said.

"We sold quite a bit of alcohol last weekend," says Chad Sanders, manager of the Wal-Mart SuperCenter on 10th Street.

The Wal-Mart did not promote the Sunday alcohol sales, Sanders says, because it did not want to give the wrong impression and have customers come back next Sunday expecting to buy alcohol.

The store still witnessed an increase in alcohol sales, Sanders says, simply because they were able to sell it last Sunday. Usually, the registers will tell the cashier "sale not allowed," when an alcoholic item is scanned, he says. He expects people to pick up more beer for the holidays when doing their grocery shopping.

"Ellenton and Bradenton are close enough and if people are going to buy liquor here, they're going to buy it somewhere else," he says. "It costs the city of Palmetto a lot of sales tax revenue."

Despite complaints from merchants, it does not seem the ordinance will change any time soon.

"The ordinance has not been changed in years," says Palmetto Mayor Larry Bustle. "It goes back to antiquity."

The amendment to allow alcohol sales on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve is at least 15 years old, according to the clerk's office.

"I think it's one of those issues that the city has to discuss and the citizens have to tell us what they want," Bustle said. "It's not something that I or the city commission would want to change from top down. If there was a change to the rules on alcohol on Sunday in Palmetto, it needs to come from the citizens."

Bustle understands the concern that city businesses have, he says, when competing with businesses in nearby cities, and even those just outside the city limits. However, if the business owners and citizens decided they want to change the ordinance, they should come forward to the commission, Bustle says.

For now, liquor stores can still cater to those who wait to the last minute and buy alcohol on New Year's Eve.

A salesperson at the Albertsons liquor store says they did a lot of business last weekend and they expect to do a lot of business this weekend. They will be open from 12:30 to 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve.