Many say Sunday spirits sales would boost business

Sunday beer and wine sales are on tap for the November ballot this year in the Callands-Gretna magisterial district, where business owners say allowing the Sunday sale of spirits will increase customer volume and enable residents to buy local.

Mary Sports, manager at Cool Branch Bar & Grill on Smith Mountain Road in Pen-hook, said if residents give the proposal a bottoms-up, the eatery might begin opening up on Sundays. The establishment is open Tuesday through Sat-urday and closed Sunday partly because patrons cannot purchase alcohol that day. The area has lots of race fans, Sports said, and they won’t come to the eatery to watch NASCAR if they can’t drink beer, she said.

Franklin County, which is less than a mile away from Cool Branch Bar & Grill, permits Sunday beer and wine sales.

“I don’t think it’s right, be-cause not even a mile down the road, you can get alcohol,” Sports said.

Jamie Cardamuro, wait staff manager at Mama Rosa Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria in Gretna, agrees. A law enabling the restaurant to serve Sunday libations would attract more football fans and increase sales that day, Cardamuro said. In addition, it would help resi-dents who currently drive to neighboring counties to buy alcohol save gas, she said.

“It’s such an outdated law,” Cardamuro said, adding that alcoholic beverages make up 3 to 5 percent of sales per month.

The Callands-Gretna district includes most of north-western Pittsylvania County, including the town of Gretna and portions of the Smith Mountain Lake shore commu-nities. On a narrow 4-3 vote, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to put the question on the ballot in Callands-Gretna after the district’s supervisor, Fred Ingram, made the motion.

It was Ingram’s second at-tempt this month to get the question put on the ballot in some form. Ingram made a similar motion during the board’s July 6 meeting propos-ing a countywide referendum. No one offered a second and the motion failed.

“All I’m trying to do is correct something that should be corrected,” Ingram said during the board’s regular meeting Tuesday night. “It’s foolish to keep this law on the books.”

Counties surrounding Pitt-sylvania allow Sunday beer and wine sales.

“It’s a law that has not been enforced by the ABC board,” he said.

State law allows supervi-sors to bypass a referendum and reverse the Sunday beer and wine ban with a board vote.

Ingram, who proposed the referendum for his district out of respect for his board colleagues, believes the referendum will pass. Though it has failed numerous times countywide before, Ingram said the economic downturn may change people’s minds this time. The county needs to do everything it can to improve business conditions in the area, Ingram said.

“The economy is going to make a difference now,” In-gram said.

Ingram said about 9,000 people live in his district, with about 5,000 in the town of Gretna and the surrounding area. He believes the Gretna area will back the proposal.

“If you do well in the Gretna area, it will carry,” Ingram said.

Ingram, owner of Crossroads Restaurant in Gretna, said he will never serve alcohol in his establishment but he sees the advantages it would bring to area restaurants and convenience stores. Ingram estimates about 20 to 25 small businesses could benefit if Sunday beer and wine sales are allowed.

Nancy Medaglia, an owner of Tomahawk Mill Vineyard and Winery, said the winery is closed Sundays, but could benefit by allowing groups to picnic and sip wine on Sundays if they set up an appointment. In addition, Tomahawk Mill seeks to become part of a wine trail with five other wineries in neighboring Halifax and Campbell counties that are all within an hour of each other, she said. She and her husband, Corky, would like be open for wine trail events if they take place on Sunday.

Joe Osborne, owner of Blair’s Self-Service Grocery located about five miles west of Gretna, said he would ring up an extra $1,000 to $2,000 on Sundays if he could sell beer and wine on Sunday. Instead, residents are now driving 10 miles to buy alco-holic beverages that day, thanks to Pittsylvania County’s ban, he said.

“I’m sure they drink on the way back home,” Osborne said.

• Contact Crane at jcrane@registerbee.com or (434) 791-7987.