You can buy liquor on Sunday in Ohio, but only at a business that holds a D-6 Sunday sales permit and sits in a precinct where voters have approved Sunday sales. Beer is the exception: many permit holders can sell it on Sunday without the D-6 add-on. Wine, mixed beverages, and spirits all require the full D-6 setup.
Beer Is Easier to Buy Than Wine or Spirits
Ohio law splits alcohol into categories. Beer sits on one side. “Intoxicating liquor” (wine, mixed beverages, and spirits) sits on the other, and “spirituous liquor” (hard liquor above 21 percent alcohol by volume) is a narrower slice of that group.1Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 4301.01 – Liquor Control Definitions
For beer, no D-6 permit is required. A permit holder whose C or D class permit application was filed on or before April 15, 1982, can sell beer on Sundays automatically. Everyone else can sell beer on Sunday if their precinct has approved Sunday sales of intoxicating liquor, or if another location in the same precinct holds site-specific Sunday authorization.2Department of Commerce. Sunday Sales
Wine, mixed beverages, and spirits are different. To sell any of them on a Sunday, the business needs a D-6 permit on top of its regular permit.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Section 4303.182 – D-6 Permit That includes the state-contracted liquor agencies that sell hard liquor, and their agency contracts must specifically authorize Sunday sales.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 4301.22 – Rules for Sales of Beer and Intoxicating Liquor Under All Classes of Permits and From State Liquor Stores
Sunday Hours
Sunday sales cannot start before 5:30 a.m., no matter the permit.5Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Rule 4301:1-1-49 – Hours of Sale of Alcoholic Beverages A business with a D-6 permit keeps the same closing time on Sunday that it has the rest of the week:
- Most permit holders can sell from 5:30 a.m. until 1:00 a.m. the next morning.
- Late-night permit holders (D-5, D-5a, D-3 with D-3a, D-7, and similar) can sell from 5:30 a.m. until 2:30 a.m. the next morning.
Without a D-6, intoxicating liquor can only be sold on Sunday during the carryover from Saturday night (until 1:00 a.m. or 2:30 a.m., depending on the permit class), after which sales must stop for the rest of the day.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 4301.22 – Rules for Sales of Beer and Intoxicating Liquor Under All Classes of Permits and From State Liquor Stores Cities can also set an earlier Sunday morning cutoff than 2:30 a.m.
Why One Store Sells on Sunday and Another Nearby Doesn’t
Even a business that holds every state permit still needs its precinct to have voted in favor of Sunday sales. These local option elections are decided precinct by precinct, so two stores a few blocks apart can land on opposite sides of the line.
Voters answer specific questions under Ohio Revised Code 4301.351:
- Question B(1) covers Sunday on-premises sales of intoxicating liquor at bars and restaurants.
- Question B(2) is a narrower version that allows Sunday on-premises sales only where food and other non-alcohol sales make up more than half of gross receipts.
- Question B(3) covers Sunday off-premises sales of wine and mixed beverages, meaning bottles to take home.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Section 4301.351
A few locations skip the local election requirement entirely because they serve travelers or large event crowds: publicly owned airports with scheduled commercial flights; hotels or motels with at least 50 rooms for transient guests that have an on-site licensed restaurant and hold a D-5a or D-3/D-3a permit; stadiums or arenas with at least 4,000 seats owned or leased by a professional baseball, basketball, football, hockey, or soccer franchise (on game days); and permit holders at the state fairgrounds and Ohio History Connection.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Section 4303.182 – D-6 Permit
Check Before You Go
The Ohio Division of Liquor Control runs a searchable database of permit holders. You can look up a store or bar by name, address, or permit class and see its permit, its status, and whether the precinct has voted wet or dry for each type of sale.7Department of Commerce. Searchable Liquor Control Information If a permit shows “no Sunday privileges,” that location cannot sell on Sundays.