Lawrence liquor stores were open for business Sunday and customers were happy.

“I love it,” said Rick Freeman, 43, Lawrence, after purchasing an 18-pack of beer and a fifth of whiskey at Cork & Barrel Wine and Spirits, Ninth and Mississippi streets.

Elsewhere in the store’s parking lot, Andy Thornton and a friend were putting two 12-packs of beer in the trunk of a car. They were headed home to watch the Kansas City Chiefs game on television.

“We used to have to stock up on Saturdays, but now we don’t,” said Thornton, 21, of Lawrence.

Business was generally good at liquor stores contacted Sunday by the Journal-World. Sunday sales became possible this week after the Lawrence City Commission gave the go-ahead, allowing Lawrence to join a growing number of mainly northeastern Kansas counties and cities with Sunday sales.

The movement toward Sunday liquor sales began last November, after a Wyandotte County judge ruled the state’s Liquor Control Act is not uniform. As a result, the judge said, local governments may exempt themselves from certain provisions of the law — including the ban on Sunday sales.

“Pretty much anybody who came in today was saying ‘wow, we can buy beer on Sunday,” said Drew Baranowski, an employee at Cork & Barrel.

Business was slow when the store opened at 11 a.m. but picked up as the day went on, Baranowski said. Many customers were buying beer for the Chiefs game and others wanted fine wine for their Sunday dinners, he said.

Customers were expressing similar sentiments at other stores.

“People are coming in and saying ‘wow, it’s weird to be in a liquor store on Sunday,” said Jed Prickett, an employee at Dangermond Retail Liquor, 923 N. Second St. “It’s been beer and bourbon, basically.”

At Harper Corner Liquor Store, 2220 Harper St., manager Mandy Isaacs said she was very busy.

“I haven’t seen so many happy customers,” Isaacs said. “It’s been crazy. Most people are saying they are coming in just because they can.”

But one customer outside Cork & Barrel just shrugged his shoulders about all the fuss over Sunday liquor store openings.

“It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s Sunday or not,” said Michael Parker, 42, Lawrence, after buying an 18-pack of beer while on his way to a barbecue. “It might cut down on the bootlegging, or going to Missouri, or going to a bar and risking a DUI while going home.”

Stores stayed open until 7 p.m.