Convenience store in Lyons seeks vote on sale of alcohol on Sunday

8/14/2002

LYONS -- The Village Mart, a convenience store on North Adrian Street, is collecting signatures to put an issue on the November ballot that would allow it to sell alcohol on Sundays.

The issue asks for the store to be allowed to sell beer, wine, and mixed beverages, by the package, from 10 a.m. to midnight on Sundays. It is not allowed to sell any alcohol on Sundays now, although it is open for other business.

A question on the November 2000 ballot that would have allowed package alcohol sales anywhere in Lyons from 1 p.m. to midnight failed 117-130.

“We did not lose by very many,” Village Mart manager Alaina Holmes said.

This year she said she wants to put an issue on the ballot that would allow sales only at her store, a move she said might make a difference to some voters.

The Village Mart, which employs eight people, has been in business about five years. Alcohol is its second highest selling item behind tobacco, Ms. Holmes said.

More recent votes on Sunday package alcohol sales have been much closer than those in the 1980s. In 1991, a question failed 103-115 while in 1987 the issue failed 86-141 and in 1985 it failed 71-124. All of those votes were in November elections.

Sales of alcohol by the glass are allowed in the village. The closest place to buy alcohol by the package is about two miles away in Seward, she said.

Ms. Holmes needs signatures of 76 registered voters who live in Lyons by next Thursday to put the issue on the ballot. There are 362 registered voters in the village.