Photo by Maryland Route 5

Late last year the D.C. Council took the step of legalizing the sale of liquor on Sundays, a practice that was long prohibited but has slowly been adopted in neighboring jurisdictions. But how soon will those Sunday sales go into effect?

Pretty soon. The D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration said today that the Mayor Vince Gray had signed the law and that it had taken effect on an emergency basis, allowing regulators to implement its provisions before Congress completes its usual 30-day review. More importantly, though, ABRA started accepting applications for Sunday sales from retailers today, meaning that it could only be a few weeks before your local liquor store remains open throughout the entire weekend.

It’ll be interesting to see which liquor stores opt into Sunday sales. At a hearing on the issue last year, liquor store owners presented a somewhat united front against the idea, saying they enjoyed the government-mandated day off. D.C. officials have predicted that the Sunday sales will bring in an additional $700,000 in annual revenue.