In Arkansas, the time you can buy alcohol on a Sunday depends on where you’re buying it. Bars, restaurants, and hotel lounges can serve alcohol every Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to midnight anywhere in the state.1Justia. Arkansas Code 3-3-210 – Sale on Sunday or Early Weekday Mornings Liquor stores, grocery stores, and convenience stores can only sell on Sunday if voters in that specific city or county have approved it through a local referendum.
Bars, Restaurants, and Hotel Lounges
Any business holding an on-premises consumption permit can serve alcohol between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 midnight on Sundays. You don’t need a local vote for this to apply, and the hours are the same across the state.
Cities and counties can tighten those hours by ordinance, but they can’t extend them past midnight. So the restaurant down the street might stop pouring at 10:00 p.m. if the city council decided it should, even though state law would otherwise allow service until midnight. A business that violates a local closing-hours ordinance faces a separate fine of $100 to $500, enforced in local court.2Justia. Arkansas Code 3-4-407 – Violation of Local Closing Hours Laws
If you’re planning a Sunday dinner out, the safest assumption is that service runs 10:00 a.m. to midnight, and call ahead if you want to drink later than ten.
Liquor Stores, Grocery Stores, and Package Sales
Off-premises retailers follow a different rule. They cannot sell alcohol on Sunday at all unless the city or county has passed a Sunday sales referendum.1Justia. Arkansas Code 3-3-210 – Sale on Sunday or Early Weekday Mornings
Where voters have approved it, licensed retailers can sell for off-premises consumption between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 midnight on Sundays, unless the ballot itself specified a shorter window. Where voters have not approved it, no retailer in that jurisdiction can legally sell you a bottle of wine or a six-pack on a Sunday afternoon, regardless of what the next county over allows.
Roughly two dozen Arkansas cities have approved Sunday off-premises sales, concentrated mostly in the northwest and north-central parts of the state. Bentonville, Rogers, and Springdale are among them. Large portions of southern and eastern Arkansas remain either dry or simply have never held a vote. The practical takeaway: before you drive to a store on Sunday, check whether your city has passed a Sunday sales referendum. Store hours posted online are usually accurate, but the underlying legal picture is local.
Private Clubs
Private clubs run on a separate permit system, and their Sunday hours are set by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division rather than the Sunday sales statute. The hours apply every day of the week:3Arkansas Code of Rules. 3 CAR 5-403 – Hours of Dispensing Alcoholic Beverages in Private Club
- Class A private clubs may dispense alcohol from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. the following day.
- Class B private clubs may dispense alcohol from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. the following day.
That means a Class B private club can legally keep serving its members until 5:00 a.m. on a Sunday night, while a public bar across the street must stop at midnight. Cities and counties can impose stricter hours through local ordinance.
This matters especially in dry counties. Package sales may be banned, but private clubs with memberships can and do serve alcohol, which is why some dry counties have an active private-club nightlife.
New Year’s Eve on a Sunday
When December 31 lands on a Sunday, licensed restaurants and hotels with on-premises permits get extended hours automatically. They can serve from 10:00 a.m. on Sunday through 2:00 a.m. on Monday, January 1.4FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 3 Alcoholic Beverages 3-9-215 – Authorization of Sunday Sales on December 31 No special application or local vote is needed. A city can still shorten the window by ordinance, but if it hasn’t, the extended hours apply by default.
Near Stadiums and Arenas
Arkansas law treats large-attendance facilities and the restaurants near them differently. Qualifying restaurants with a valid on-premises permit, located in the same city as a stadium or arena, can sell alcohol on Sundays from 12:00 noon to 2:00 a.m. the following Monday.5Justia. Arkansas Code 3-9-216 – Authorization of Sales for Certain Large Attendance Facilities and Restaurants That is two hours later than the midnight cutoff that applies to regular on-premises permit holders. If you’re near a venue on a game day or concert night, service may legally run later than you’d expect.
If a Business Sells Outside Allowed Hours
Selling alcohol on a Sunday without proper authorization, or outside permitted hours, is a state-law violation. A first offense carries a fine of $100 to $250. Second and subsequent offenses become a Class B misdemeanor, which carries jail time of up to 90 days and fines of up to $1,000.1Justia. Arkansas Code 3-3-210 – Sale on Sunday or Early Weekday Mornings
Local closing-hours violations are handled separately. Those fines run $100 to $500 and are prosecuted in local court. A local-hours citation does not count as an administrative strike against the state-issued permit.2Justia. Arkansas Code 3-4-407 – Violation of Local Closing Hours Laws