ALBANY — In a change urged by County Executive Dan McCoy, the County Legislature has requested that the State Liquor Authority expand sales hours for liquor stores in the county to the maximum allowed by the state.
Current county hours for most of the year are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday; since fall 2023, longer hours are allowed from Nov. 15 to Jan. 7, an expansion requested by liquor and wine retailers to take advantage of larger demand during the holidays. If new year-round hours are approved by the SLA board, Albany County stores would be allowed to open from 8 a.m. to midnight Monday to Saturday, with Sunday hours remaining 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., though proprietors would be free to operate with shorter hours.
The catalyst for McCoy’s request was not immediately clear, and his spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment. Several owners of liquor stores and members of the legislature, while not opposed to the change, said Tuesday they were surprised by it, because it had not seemed a priority within the industry or among consumers…