A group pushing for Sunday alcohol sales is intensifying its effort at the State Capitol this year, rolling out a slick new social media campaign designed to put pressure on legislators to change the law.
"Football tailgates. Relaxing on lakes. Tying up skates. These are things that Minnesotans do on Sundays," a narrator says in one of the videos. "But buy a six-pack of beer? Heck no, for gosh sakes."
The new "Why Not Sundays?" campaign — in the form of Facebook posts, tweets and a YouTube video with more than 50,000 views — comes after years of failed efforts by advocates and lawmakers to repeal Minnesota's 80-year-old ban on retail Sunday liquor sales.
The effort is being led by a group of liquor retailers and grocery stores known as the MN Consumers First Alliance. After getting closer to repealing the law last year, organizers say they are trying to swamp legislators with even more public pressure.
"We believe the reason Sunday sales almost passed last year was the huge response from consumers who contacted their legislators," said Leslee Miller, a wine consultant and spokeswoman for the MN Consumers First Alliance. "With continued consumer pressure, we can get Sunday sales passed this year."
The two sides have been battling over the issue for years. Local municipal liquor store owners have fought the change the hardest, arguing that it would be too expensive to staff their businesses on Sundays and offer too little financial reward. But many large grocers and liquor stores say a repeal would not require retailers to be open on Sundays, just give them the option. The large retailers say they lose a lot of business when Minnesotans cross state borders on Sundays to buy alcohol.
"There is a customer demand for that," said Rep. Jenifer Loon, R-Eden Prairie, who has pushed for Sunday sales in the Legislature. "Families are busier. A lot of people do their shopping on Sundays."
A bipartisan and powerful coalition of mostly rural legislators have fought hard against the change. Minnesota remains one of 12 states that have bans on Sunday retail liquor sales, a law dating to 1935 – two years after prohibition ended in the U.S.