Are Liquor Stores Open on Sunday in Arkansas? County Rules and Hours

Whether liquor stores are open on Sunday in Arkansas depends on your city or county. State law bans Sunday off-premises alcohol sales by default, but any city or county can override that ban through a voter referendum. Where voters have approved Sunday sales, stores can sell packaged alcohol from 10:00 a.m. to midnight.¹ Everywhere else, the shelves stay locked on Sunday even in an otherwise wet county.

The Default Rule Is No, Unless Voters Said Yes

Arkansas Code § 3-3-210 starts from prohibition. Selling alcohol on Sunday is illegal statewide unless a specific exception applies, and for liquor stores, grocery stores, and any other retailer selling packaged alcohol to take home, that exception has to come from a local vote.¹

To put the question on a ballot, residents file a petition signed by at least 15% of the qualified electors who voted for Governor in the most recent general election where that office was on the ballot. City petitions go to the city clerk; county petitions go to the county clerk. If a simple majority approves, every retailer in that jurisdiction with a valid ABC permit can begin Sunday sales within the authorized hours.¹

Approval in one city means nothing for the next town. Drive twenty minutes past the city limits and you can land somewhere that never held the vote at all.

Sunday Store Hours Where Sales Are Allowed

In cities and counties that approved the referendum, packaged alcohol sales run from 10:00 a.m. to midnight on Sunday.¹ A community can adopt a narrower window within those hours, but nothing wider.

Several larger cities, including Little Rock, have approved Sunday off-premises sales. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the Department of Finance and Administration maintains a map showing which jurisdictions are wet or dry.² Checking it before a Sunday run saves a wasted drive.

What is on the shelves depends on the retailer’s permit. Some grocery and convenience stores hold permits limited to beer and wine; dedicated liquor stores with full permits sell spirits as well. The Sunday hours are the same wherever the local election authorized them.

Restaurants and Bars Follow a Separate Rule

The store rule and the restaurant rule are not the same, and mixing them up trips up a lot of people. Any establishment in a wet area holding a permit for on-premises service can serve on Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to midnight under state law, with no separate local referendum required.¹ That covers restaurants, bars, and hotels with the appropriate permits.

A city, town, or county can pass an ordinance shortening those hours for specific types of on-premises outlets. Local governments cannot expand past the 10 a.m. to midnight window, but they can shrink it.¹ So the state baseline allows a Sunday brunch mimosa at 10:00 a.m., but a restrictive local ordinance could push that start time later.

One important detail if you live somewhere the store vote failed: that failed vote has no effect on restaurants and hotels serving mixed drinks under their existing permits. The statute explicitly protects on-premises operations from being swept into a rejected off-premises referendum.¹

Christmas Day Closes Every Store, No Vote Required

Sunday rules are not the only calendar restriction. Arkansas Code § 3-3-211 makes it illegal to sell alcohol on Christmas Day, and there is no local override. Every bar, restaurant, and liquor store in the state goes dark on December 25. A violation is a Class B misdemeanor.³ When Christmas falls on a Sunday, both prohibitions overlap, but the Christmas rule is the one that controls because no election can undo it.

Dry Counties and the Private Club Exception

Underneath the Sunday question sits a more basic divide. Arkansas’s 75 counties split into wet counties where alcohol sales are broadly legal and dry counties where selling alcohol is prohibited entirely. The Sunday framework only matters if you are already in a wet jurisdiction. In a dry county, you cannot buy alcohol from a store on any day of the week, Sunday included.

The wet-dry map is not static. Counties can change status through local option elections, and the ABC Division publishes an up-to-date interactive map showing each county’s current status.²

Private clubs are the main exception inside dry areas. A private club permit lets an establishment serve alcoholic beverages to its members even in a dry county, with hours controlled by ABC Division rules rather than § 3-3-210.¹ Service requires meeting the membership requirements in the club’s bylaws.⁴ That is how some restaurants and venues in dry parts of the state manage to serve drinks. It does not, however, open a retail store.

What Happens If a Store Sells on Sunday Anyway

Arkansas imposes both criminal and administrative penalties for illegal Sunday sales. A first offense for selling alcohol on Sunday, or between 1:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. on weekdays, is a violation carrying a fine of $100 to $250. A second or subsequent offense becomes a Class B misdemeanor with potential jail time.¹

The ABC Division can also go after a retailer’s permit. Administrative fines follow a tiered system:

Class A violations: $500 to $1,000
Class B violations: $200 to $500
Class C violations: $100 to $200

A second offense of the same violation within 12 months doubles the fine, and a third offense within 12 months triples it. A Class A violation on a third strike could reach $3,000, on top of the risk of permit suspension or revocation.⁵

Before planning a Sunday stop, confirm your city or county sits on the approved list. Where it does, you have from 10:00 a.m. to midnight. Where it does not, the store is closed for alcohol sales regardless of what the front door says.

1
Justia. Arkansas Code 3-3-210 – Sale on Sunday or Early Weekday Mornings
2
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. ABC FAQs
3
Justia. Arkansas Code 3-3-211 – Sales on Christmas Day
4
Arkansas Code of Rules. Membership
5
Justia. Arkansas Code 3-4-402 – Classes of Violations and Fines – Multiple Offenses