Effort underway to put Sunday alcohol sales in Fayetteville to vote
STACY RYBURN
FAYETTEVILLE — A group backed by Walmart wants to get Sunday alcohol sales in Fayetteville on the November ballot.
Keep Our Dollars in Fayetteville filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission on March 2, according to the commission’s website. State Rep. Denise Garner, D-Fayetteville, is serving as its chairwoman.
A draft of a petition to collect voter signatures was filed with the Fayetteville City Clerk on March 5, city documents show. It would authorize the sale of alcoholic beverages for off-premises consumption between 10 a.m. and midnight on Sundays within the city limits.
If the group gets enough signatures, the measure could be placed on the Nov. 5 general election ballot for registered voters in the city to decide. The group will need at least 15% of the number of voters in the city who voted in the 2022 gubernatorial election.
In 2022, 27,878 Fayetteville residents voted in the gubernatorial election, according to information from the Washington County clerk’s office. That means the petition must gather at least 4,182 signatures.
The petition with the required number of signatures must be verified by the clerk’s office. The City Council would need to pass a resolution calling for the election at least a week before the Washington County Services Committee meets on July 29, said Jennifer Price, county election director.
From there, the Washington County Quorum Court would need to authorize the county election commission by Aug. 15 to conduct the election. Everything would need to be turned in to the county clerk’s office by Aug. 27 to make it in time for the Nov. 5 election.
Michael Lindsey, director of public affairs and government relations for Walmart, emailed the city clerk’s office on March 4 requesting a meeting to go over the petition, saying an announcement is planned for later this month.
Lindsey and Walmart similarly backed a successful effort to get Sunday alcohol sales in Rogers and Bentonville in 2022. Both measures passed with more than 70% of the vote.
Garner said Thursday via email that the group will share more information about the effort in the coming weeks.
“We know that every week, Fayetteville loses tens of thousands of dollars to surrounding communities when shoppers drive to those towns to buy alcohol. While there, they are also doing things like picking up groceries, or filling up with gas,” she said. “We want to keep those dollars here in Fayetteville, and we want people shopping here in our local stores to have more choices.”
Employees who answered the phone at local liquor stores Thursday expressed hesitation about opening on Sundays.
Kent Starr, owner of Liquor World on College Avenue, said the nature of alcohol sales in the region has changed drastically in the 40-plus years he’s been in the business. Benton County used to be dry. Convenience stores and big box retailers such as Walmart only started selling alcohol about 15 years ago.
Starr said he, like other retailers, has difficulty finding employees to hire. Adding another day to the work week could compound the problem, he said, and employees enjoy having Sundays off.
However, Starr said he understood why residents would want to be able to buy alcohol on Sundays in their own town. At the same time, holidays such as New Year’s Eve are among the biggest sale days for the stores — unless they fall on a Sunday, he said.
“Certainly, if they want to leave it up to the voters and that’s what’s coming, then that’s OK by me,” Starr said. “I’m not going to promote it. I’m probably not going to take signatures or anything else, I’ll just let people decide what they want to decide.”
Two cities, Springdale and Tontitown, in Washington County and five, including Rogers and Bentonville, in Benton County allow Sunday alcohol sales, according to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Springdale started allowing Sunday sales in 2012. Greenland voters most recently approved Sunday sales during the March 5 primary election.
Arkansas legislators passed Act 294 in 2009, which enabled communities to place Sunday alcohol sales on the ballot through signature collection. Legislation was introduced in 2021 that would have allowed a city council to place Sunday sales on the ballot, but the measure never made it out of committee.
Gathering signatures remains the only route to a Sunday sales vote, said Scott Hardin, communications director with the state Department of Finance and Administration.
Reception to Sunday alcohol sales in Rogers has been positive, said Raymond Burns, president of the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce. He said he remembers when Benton County was dry, but nowadays, people expect to be able to buy alcohol when they want.
“It’s a consumable that many households desire, and it’s just a matter of convenience,” Burns said. “Once it got on the ballot, it was a no-brainer that it was going to pass.”