In Texas, you can buy beer and wine at grocery stores, convenience stores, and gas stations starting at 10:00 AM on Sunday, with sales running until midnight.1Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. FAQs – Section: Hours of Sale and Consumption Bars and restaurants can start serving mixed drinks and on-premise beer at noon, or as early as 10:00 AM if the drink comes with food. Liquor stores are closed all day. That is the short answer to what time you can buy alcohol on Sunday in Texas; the details below cover the exceptions that catch people out.
Beer and Wine at Stores
Any Texas retailer with an off-premise license, including grocery stores, convenience stores, and gas stations, can sell beer and wine on Sunday from 10:00 AM to midnight.2State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 105.05 – Hours of Sale: Malt Beverages You don’t need to buy food with it, and nothing special is required at the register. Walk in at 10:00 AM, grab what you want, and check out.
Standard beer and wine are the only packaged alcohol you can buy on a Sunday in Texas. Distilled spirits in sealed bottles are a different matter, covered below.
Bars, Restaurants, and the Brunch Rule
On-premise establishments like bars, restaurants, and clubs operate on a slightly different Sunday clock. The regular service window runs from noon to midnight. Between 10:00 AM and noon, these businesses can serve alcohol only if the drink is accompanied by food.3State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Chapter 105 – Hours of Sale and Consumption The food rule applies to mixed drinks and to beer served at the table. This is what makes Sunday brunch mimosas legal before noon: your server brings food along with the drink.
Festivals, fairs, and concerts get an exemption. At those events, alcohol can be served from 10:00 AM on Sunday without any food requirement.2State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 105.05 – Hours of Sale: Malt Beverages If you’re at a weekend event that opens Sunday morning, the beer tent doesn’t need to pair your drink with a plate.
Liquor Stores Are Closed All Day
Package stores, which is the legal term for liquor stores in Texas, do not open on Sunday. If you want a sealed bottle of whiskey, tequila, vodka, or any other distilled spirit, you have to buy it between Monday and Saturday. Texas is one of the few states that still bans Sunday liquor-store sales statewide.
Package stores also close on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. When Christmas or New Year’s falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is closed too, so the store goes dark for two days in a row.1Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. FAQs – Section: Hours of Sale and Consumption
The Sunday ban is specifically about retail bottle sales. Bars and restaurants can still mix you a cocktail with distilled spirits on a Sunday during their regular on-premise hours. The restriction is on the sealed bottle, not the pour.
Saturday Night Carrying Into Sunday Morning
Sunday doesn’t shut things down at midnight. Saturday’s selling hours carry over, so both stores and bars can keep selling between midnight and 1:00 AM Sunday.1Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. FAQs – Section: Hours of Sale and Consumption A bar can still serve you at 12:30 AM Sunday under Saturday’s clock.
Businesses with a late-hours certificate can push the window to 2:00 AM. That option is automatically available in cities and counties with populations of 800,000 or more. In smaller jurisdictions, the local commissioners court or city council has to adopt extended hours by order or ordinance before a bar can use them.3State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Chapter 105 – Hours of Sale and Consumption Outside a major metro area, last call is often 1:00 AM.
Once that early-morning window closes, nothing is sold until 10:00 AM for off-premise beer and wine, or noon for on-premise drinks without food. The stretch from roughly 1:00 AM to 10:00 AM is the longest dry period of the week.
Local Dry Areas Can Override These Hours
Everything above assumes you’re in a “wet” area where alcohol sales are legal. Texas lets counties, cities, and justice precincts restrict or ban sales through local option elections.4State of Texas. Texas Election Code Chapter 501 – Local Option Elections on Sale of Alcoholic Beverages An area can go fully dry, or partially wet in various combinations: beer and wine but no liquor, on-premise restaurant sales but no off-premise store sales, and so on.
As of 2025, three Texas counties remain completely dry and 60 are fully wet, with the rest somewhere in between.5Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. TABC Publishes Interactive Wet/Dry Map A local prohibition overrides the statewide schedule, so if you’re traveling to a less populated part of the state and planning to pick up a six-pack on Sunday morning, check the TABC’s interactive wet/dry map before you go.
Sunday Hours at a Glance
- Midnight to 1:00 AM: stores and bars can still sell under Saturday’s hours. Businesses with a late-hours certificate can sell until 2:00 AM.
- 1:00 AM (or 2:00 AM) to 10:00 AM: no sales anywhere.
- 10:00 AM to noon: grocery and convenience stores sell beer and wine; bars and restaurants serve alcohol only with food; festivals, fairs, and concerts serve without the food rule.
- Noon to midnight: all on-premise and off-premise sales are open, except liquor stores, which stay closed the entire day.
If you need distilled spirits in a sealed bottle for Sunday, the latest you can buy is Saturday evening before the liquor store closes, which is typically 9:00 PM.1Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. FAQs – Section: Hours of Sale and Consumption