Hot Springs Sunday Alcohol Sales Headed to November Vote, and Central Arkansas Should Pay Attention

Hot Springs Could Change Sunday Liquor Shopping for Central Arkansas

Hot Springs voters will decide November 3 whether licensed retailers can sell alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption on Sundays. If voters say yes, the nearest practical Sunday liquor-store run for much of Central Arkansas could shrink from Memphis to Hot Springs.

The issue is local, but the competitive and economic effects may not stop at the Hot Springs city limits.

The Petition Cleared the Required Threshold

Arkansas law does not let a city board simply declare Sunday package sales legal. The issue must go to voters through the local-option process.

For Hot Springs, supporters needed signatures equal to 15 percent of the qualified electors who voted in the city for governor in the last general election in which that office appeared on the ballot. City officials said 13,020 Hot Springs residents voted in that gubernatorial election, producing a requirement of 1,953 valid signatures.

During the August 18 meeting, City Attorney Brian Albright said 1,957 signatures had been certified. That put the petition just four signatures above the required threshold.

Albright repeatedly explained that, once the legally sufficient petition was received, the Board's role was essentially ministerial. The Board was calling the election so registered Hot Springs voters could decide the issue themselves.

The Fayetteville Campaign Used the Same Economic Argument

The parallels between Hot Springs and Fayetteville are striking. Fayetteville's campaign was called Keep Our Dollars in Fayetteville, and it was also backed by Walmart.

Supporters there argued that Fayetteville residents who wanted alcohol on Sunday were already making the purchase. The restriction simply encouraged them to cross into neighboring communities such as Springdale or Greenland, where the same transaction was legal.

That is the key economic argument behind these campaigns. A Sunday-sales restriction does not necessarily eliminate a sale. Sometimes it only determines which city gets the sale, the sales-tax revenue, and the related shopping trip.

The reaction from Fayetteville liquor retailers also showed why some independent stores remain skeptical. After voters approved the measure, some store operators told the Fayetteville Flyer they were not enthusiastic about adding another operating day. One retailer nevertheless planned to open because competitors, including larger retailers, would be able to sell.

That concern deserves to be taken seriously. Sunday sales do not magically create one-seventh more annual business. Some customers will simply move a Saturday purchase to Sunday. The real economic question becomes more interesting where customers are already crossing city, county or state lines.

Arkansas Has Evidence That Alcohol Dollars Cross County Lines

Arkansas does not publish a clean city-by-city report showing how much liquor-store revenue increases specifically after Sunday sales begin. Alcoholic Beverage Control has noted that permit holders are not required to report retail gross sales to ABC, so there is no statewide Sunday-sales dataset that lets us say Bentonville gained a precise percentage after opening Sundays.

There is, however, strong Arkansas evidence that alcohol restrictions can redirect consumer spending across jurisdictional lines.

The University of Arkansas Center for Business and Economic Research is part of the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

Before Benton County voted wet in 2012, the University of Arkansas Center for Business and Economic Research estimated that legal package alcohol sales could capture nearly $78 million in annual retail sales that were otherwise unavailable inside the county. The study projected more than $33 million in recurring local economic impact.

After Benton County went wet, 30 liquor stores opened and another 11 held conditional permits by 2015. Benton County Comptroller Brenda Guenther reported about $3 million in additional liquor-store alcohol tax revenue in fiscal year 2014-2015 compared with the previous calendar year.

Raymond Burns of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce offered an important qualification at the time. He believed much of the increase represented sales shifting back into Benton County from Washington County or Missouri rather than a sudden increase in drinking.

That distinction is highly relevant to Hot Springs. The policy question is not simply whether Sunday sales create new alcohol consumption. It is whether purchases that consumers already intend to make will happen in Hot Springs, Memphis, Northwest Arkansas, or somewhere else.

Opinion: For Central Arkansas, This Is Huge

Now for the part of this story that matters to those of us sitting in Central Arkansas.

This is huge, and the reason is geography.

Arkansas regional map showing Northwest, North Central, Northeast, Central, Southwest and Southeast areas by county.

For someone in the Little Rock area who decides on Sunday that they want to walk into a traditional liquor store and buy a bottle, Memphis has long been one of the practical options. That is roughly two hours there and two hours back. A simple liquor-store run can turn into four hours on the highway.

If Hot Springs approves Sunday sales, that calculation changes dramatically. Hot Springs is roughly an hour from much of the Little Rock metro. Now we are talking about something closer to an hour there and an hour back.

What had been a four-hour Sunday liquor run could become roughly a two-hour round trip.

That does not suddenly turn Hot Springs into Memphis, and it does not mean Central Arkansas whiskey enthusiasts will stop traveling. What it changes is the everyday bottle.

We Are Still Going to Memphis

Memphis is not going anywhere for serious bourbon hunters.

Tennessee is a different distribution and allocation market. Stores there have different selections, different private barrels and different opportunities for allocated whiskey. Bottles that are difficult to find in Arkansas can sometimes be found across the river.

We will still make the drive for an allocated release. We will still go for an interesting store pick. We will still hunt bottles that Arkansas did not receive in meaningful numbers.

A Sunday option in Hot Springs changes something much more ordinary.

You need bourbon for friends coming over. You forgot the wine for dinner. You are out of tequila. You need something for cocktails. You want an everyday bottle that is sitting on shelves all over Arkansas six days of the week.

Driving four hours round trip for that bottle is hard to justify. Hot Springs could cut that trip roughly in half.

Pulaski County Has Been Here Before

The possibility is especially interesting when you look back at a Sunday-sales fight from 2021.

House Bill 1748 would not have legalized Sunday package sales statewide. Instead, it would have created another route to a local election. A city or county governing body could have called a Sunday-sales referendum with a two-thirds vote, rather than requiring supporters to first collect signatures equal to 15 percent of the applicable gubernatorial vote.

The voters still would have made the final decision. The proposal was about making it easier to ask them.

THV11 covered the debate and reported opposition from liquor-store interests, including Clark Trim, then-owner of Colonial Wine & Spirits in Little Rock. The concern from independent retailers was understandable: opening another day means another day of staffing and operating costs, while some Sunday purchases may simply be Saturday purchases moved by one day.

HB1748 ultimately did not become law. Hot Springs supporters therefore had to use the existing petition route, collect the signatures and earn their place on the ballot.

That history becomes more interesting if Hot Springs opens Sundays while Pulaski County stores remain closed. The question for Central Arkansas retailers changes from whether Sunday is worth opening to whether remaining closed creates a competitive disadvantage.