Rick Havekost of Micky Finn's Takes The Fight For Sunday Sales To The SC State House

For years, residents of South Carolina have quietly complained about the state’s antiquated alcohol regulations. Whether the issue is Sunday sales or the approval process for new products, the state has earned a reputation as one of the most restrictive in the nation when it comes to alcohol policy.

To be fair, progress has been made over the past twenty years. Once known for rules so strict that even hardware stores and pharmacies had to close on Sundays, the state has gradually rolled back many of its long-standing blue laws — regulations critics have often called outdated, impractical, and even constitutionally questionable.

Public sentiment now appears to be reaching a tipping point, however. Retail businesses can operate on Sundays, restaurants are allowed to serve alcohol that day, and in numerous communities where voters have had a say, Sunday beer and wine sales have passed by wide margins.

Yet when it comes to liquor sales on Sundays, the state remains firmly resistant. Despite clear signals from voters, lawmakers have shown little willingness to reconsider the ban.This is why Rick Havekost, owner of Micky Finn’s, is now speaking out publicly against these outdated laws.

Havekost has taken to the media for quite a while, writing op-eds in the Post and Courier, and appearing on the No Stop Lights Podcast with Ken Ard to publicly state his position - that it's time the South Carolina State Legislature allow the people of South Carolina the opportunity to choose whether or not they buy alcohol on Sundays. 

Recently, however, Havekost took the fight directly to the State Legislature itself. Appearing before the Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee on February 10, 2026, Havekost clearly articulated his desire to have a statewide referendum on Sunday alcohol sales. The referendum, as he argues for it, will not result in Sunday sales but it will merely allow a second referendum to go to each county, if the county will allow it to determine whether or not Sunday liquor sales will be approved. 

You can see Havekost's short yet powerful speech by going here and searching for Tuesday, February 10, 2026 -Judiciary Committee - General Laws Subcommittee on 3857, 4001, 5017

 Note: Havekost begins speaking at around the 19:00 minute mark. 

In his opening remarks, he stated:

"They [Buc-cee's] do 1.7 million [dollars} on average a day. We are closed on Sunday. No revenue. No tax revenue for the state. No sales for the state. If we were to garner 2-3%, which is about what we average, of getting people out of their parking lot and in to ours, we would do about $3 million in sales at an 8% sales tax. We could probably do more than that. But that is a Sunday sales issue. And all of those people are from out of state. When I go to my parking lot, there might be one South Carolina tag out of the 100 that are out there. Their from Ohio and Florida and when they come knock on the door and you watch the cameras, they're just mad. They're just gonna right across the next state line whether that's Georgia or Florida and buy there. Lost revenue." 

Havekost goes on to explain how outdated state laws make it difficult for bars and restaurants to be fully restocked on weekends because his store, Micky Finn's, is not legally allowed to deliver after 7pm or before 9am. 

Most notably, however, Havekost points out a glaring hypocrisy in the current law as it relates to safety, one of the constantly touted reasons for continued restriction. Havekost draws out the fact that liquor stores cannot sell their product on Sunday while bars and restaurants can. This means that, while individuals who go to a liquor store purchase a product that is sealed and generally taken home before consumption, they are not allowed to purchase liquor this way in South Carolina. Instead, they are forced to go to a bar or restaurant and consume the alcohol on premise before then driving home, endangering themselves and others in the process. 

Safety? I think not. In fact, on this issue at least, it sounds like safety is more of an excuse than a premise. 

Havekost's speech is well worth the listen. It's only a few minutes long but contains an eloquent exposition of the case for a Sunday Sales referendum. 

While Havekost's speech did seem to help make some progress with the subcommittee, there are still holdouts within it and certainly within the state legislature as a whole. This is despite the fact that the majority of South Carolinians want Sunday sales and despite the fact that South Carolina constantly touts itself as a better option to the more tightly regulated northern blue states partly because we have less regulation, less taxes, and more freedom. But, on the issue of alcohol, South Carolina still insists on acting as if it is living in a past that simply can't be found on a map. This is because such a past never really existed besides a short period of Prohibition that virtually everyone now recognizes as having been a mistake. 

So who is the legislature trying to please with their opposition to personal choice when it comes to purchasing alcohol on Sunday? We might not definitively know the answer to that question but we do know they aren't pleasing their voters. 

If you're interested in learning more about the nuances of the South Carolina Sunday Alcohol sales debate, I encourage you to listen to the No Stop Lights podcast where host Ken Ard interviews Rick Havekost about his life and the liquor business. The issue of Sunday Sales and South Carolina liquor laws are discussed with some detail and clarity during the course of the interview.  

If you want to help, I encourage you to call or write both your SC State Rep and State Senator and politely indicate your support for Sunday Sales in South Carolina and, at the very least, a referendum to be added to the ballot so that South Carolinians can voice their opinion on the issue.