People bought alcohol on a Sunday for the first time in Troy after the ordinance allowing the practice took effect for the weekend.

Many stores, restaurants and bars were already prepared for the change, including Trojan Tavern.

“It was fun to get the doors open an extra day,” said Von Ewing, owner. “It was a really laid back day with an adult crowd. I think Sunday will be a good successful, peaceful day.”

The ordinance allows restaurants and stores to sell alcohol beginning at noon on Sundays and allows bars and lounges to begin selling alcohol at 2 p.m. Bars must also stop selling alcohol at 10 p.m.

Ewing said he expects the Sunday crowd to get even bigger as the policy becomes the new normal in Troy.

“I can see it doing a wonder for Troy,” Ewing said. “It is going to get money circulating through Troy, not just bringing in revenue, but keeping dollars here.”

Not every store was prepared for the change just yet though.

Local resident Aaron Taylor said he went to one local store to purchase alcohol on Sunday but was told he couldn’t because the city wouldn’t allow it.

“I got stopped about 20 feet from the wine aisle by a manager-type employee and he told me I couldn’t buy it because the city still hadn’t voted and decided on it yet,” Taylor said. “I knew it had passed, but I just decided to walk out without it because I had somewhere else I had to go. But I told the guy he should probably check with the city because the store is going to lose a lot of business if they don’t fix it.”

City Clerk Alton Starling said the city is in the process of notifying all parties that hold an alcohol license of the change in policy, especially the business that may be owned by a larger corporation that aren’t necessarily able to make changes to their systems as easily.

“I’ve already notified the ABC board so they know not to arrest anyone for selling alcohol on Sundays,” Starling said. “Now we’re working on getting this notice out to all the vendors. It’s different; it’s new. It’s the first time ever that we’ve had to do this, so we’re going to go that extra step.”

Council president Marcus Paramore said businesses can choose to ignore the policy as well.

“Once they’re informed, it’s up to the business to do their due diligence and everyone does need to understand the referendum and ordinance only provided an opportunity for those businesses to choose to do so,” Paramore said. “Nothing in the referendum or ordinance mandates anyone to do anything.”

Taylor said he’s hoping to get to participate in the Sunday purchase of alcohol during the upcoming weekend.

“I was going to do my civic duty,” Taylor said. “I was excited; this is something the city needs. We need to get out of the dark ages and have something like this with economic development. I think if a grown adult wants to do something that’s legal the other six days of the week, you should be able to do it on Sunday regardless of other reasons that don’t apply to everybody.”