Starting tomorrow, gas stations and grocery stores within the Oxford city limits will be able to sell cold beer and wine every day, including Sundays.
The Oxford Board of Aldermen voted 6-1 on Aug. 20 to remove a city ordinance clause allowing only room temperature beer and wine to be sold as well as no Sunday sales. An unexpected proposal to change the ordinance came from board member Janice Antonow during the Board’s July 23 meeting.
Oxford businesses across the city are preparing for the new law to take effect this week.
“We’re going to be getting some small mini fridges and one regular sized fridge,” said Jason McCharen, salesclerk at Bikini Beer off College Hill Road. “I’m not really sure where we’re going to put them but I know we will have to rearrange some things.”
Not all businesses have made their stores ready for cold beer sales, however. The Chevron off South Lamar, home of chicken-on-a-stick, won’t have everything ready for a couple of weeks.
“We have to get a cooler for the store to hold the beer,” said Phyllis Smith, assistant manger of the Chevron. “Everyone is trying to buy a cooler right now for their stores so it’s going to take some time.”
Smith said Chevron plans to have a new arrangement for the cold beer.
“We will have a cooler that will take up the whole back of the store,” she said.
With the new law taking effect, neither Smith nor McCharen expect to see a significant change in business.
“People buy beer whether it is hot or whether it is cold,” Smith said. “Now they can just buy more beer without having to buy ice and a chest.”
Students have been the most vocal supporters of the ordinance’s revision. Michael Campbell, senior music education major, is excited for the new law to take effect.
“Honestly just being able to buy beer cold and not having to wait an hour to drink it is the most exciting part,” Campbell said.
For students and Oxford businesses, one of the best things about the new law is being able to sell on Sundays.
“We couldn’t sell beer at all on Sundays and now we can, which is great,” McCharen said. “We will be open this Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.”
Sarah Pearcy, senior civil engineering major, was very surprised when she found out about the removal of the city’s ordinance.
“Oxford seems like such a conservative town and that law has been in place for so long, I didn’t see them ever changing it,” Pearcy said.
Despite rumors of a tax increase on the cold beer, the tax will remain at 9 percent regardless of whether the beer is room temperature or refrigerated.
“If there was tax, I don’t think it would deter customers,” Smith said. “They wouldn’t worry about that.”
