New York to Allow Liquor Stores Open on Christmas

Every year, our elected officials across the country at both the state and federal government levels, find themselves responsible for the numerous inner workings of how quite literally everything functions. Recently, the Governor of the State of New York, Kathy Hochul, announced that new legislation had been passed for the state's fiscal budget in 2023.

One part of this newly passed legislation will affect the owners and operators of state liquor stores.

The Choice is Yours

Traditionally, it has been common practice for many different places of business to be closed on major holidays like Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, the new fiscal year legislation passed in the state of New York will now allow owners of liquor stores across the state to choose whether or not they will open their doors for business on Christmas Day. This decision has drawn mixed reviews for obvious reasons.

Criticism of the New Business Option

The criticism of this option comes from the fact that a major holiday like Christmas is a day that is supposed to be a day reserved and spent with family and act as a break for the vast majority of people from their daily routines.

Not to mention the tremendous religious meaning that Christmas day holds to people of the Christian faith. However, for owners of a business like a liquor store, the option to be open on Christmas could be a worthwhile venture.

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Considering past business practices, no numbers exist that show how well a liquor store can do sales-wise on Christmas Day. However, celebratory holidays, especially massive holidays like Christmas, present very lucrative times for liquor stores and are usually the times when stores make the most of their money.

What Will Happen Now?

Chances are that most businesses will operate the same way as they have and be closed on Christmas day, despite having the option to be open. The fact of the matter is though that there will be owners out there who will choose to capitalize on the business opportunity in front of them and that's just reality. Owners of these businesses though will have to understand that just because they have the option to be open doesn't mean they should as days like Christmas means a lot to a lot of people. As with anything, the best way to handle change is with some form of compromise.