Are NC liquor stores open on Labor Day? Here’s where to buy booze on a holiday
If you need liquor for your Labor Day celebration, we hope you planned ahead.
North Carolina grocery stores and convenience stores open on Labor Day can sell beer and wine, but you can only buy liquor at ABC stores in the state, and those will be closed on Monday.
Here’s what the ABC Commission says about when liquor can be bought or sold in the state:
“No ABC store shall be open, and no ABC store employee shall sell alcoholic beverages, on any Sunday, New Year’s Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day. A local board may otherwise determine the days on which its stores shall be closed.”
You can still buy liquor by the drink at bars and restaurants on Sundays and holidays.
ABC stores in the area should be open on Saturday.
Store hours vary, but most stores we checked in the Raleigh or Durham area list either 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. or 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. as their Saturday hours. Stores checked in the Charlotte area mostly listed hours of 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. or 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
You might want to double check before you head out. Here’s how to find an ABC store near you: abc.nc.gov/Search/ABCStoreLocator.
Why is liquor only sold at ABC stores in NC?
Liquor stores are government-owned in North Carolina.
ABC, which stands for the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, controls all of North Carolina’s liquor stores. The commission operates several hundred ABC stores in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties — except for far-western Graham County, which is dry, The N&O previously reported. But there’s been growing pressure to open up the market to private companies, especially after The N&O revealed in 2018 that ABC wasted millions of taxpayer dollars ($11.3 million, to be exact) over 13 years.
In addition to limited holiday sales, ABC stores are closed on Sundays.
The 2017 “brunch bill,” signed into state law by Gov. Roy Cooper, allowed restaurants to begin serving alcoholic beverages at 10 a.m. on Sundays. That’s also the time you can buy beer and wine at grocery stores. Before that, the sale of alcohol wasn’t allowed to begin on Sundays until noon.
N&O staff writer Kimberly Cataudella contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 2, 2023 at 8:00 AM.