Emporia liquor stores, grocery stores and convenience stores did something Sunday they haven’t done for a long time, if ever: they opened for business.
Traffic was hard to gauge because of the daylong rainfall, but some local liquor stores report good sales. Among them was Ozzy’s Get-n-Go Liquor, according to store clerk Lisa Munoz.
King Liquor also reported strong sales Sunday, and both stores said they did not see any drop-off in their Saturday sales leading up to the debut of Sunday sales.
The same was not reported at grocery stores or convenience stores in town. Country Mart, both Kwik Shop at 12th and Merchant and Short Stop at 18th and Merchant all reported marginal activity.
Emporia is about a decade behind other nearby communities like Americus, Lebo, Lyndon, Olpe and Osage City, who approved Sunday sales when those were first made available by the state. At Why Not Liquor in Olpe, Sunday traffic was reported as slower than normal, although the weather may have played a role in that. The Liquor Shed in Americus was not ready to report its traffic as of late afternoon. Calls to Circle P in Lebo were met with a busy signal.
Locally, there was some worry of Sunday sales subtracting from Saturday’s receipts. Both Ozzy’s and King say there could be some pull from Monday totals, although Monday is a generally a lower-traffic day than other days of the week.
