New Year Brought Record Alcohol Sales To Bowie - KAUZ-TV: Newschannel 6 Now | Wichita Falls, TX

Some liquor stores in Bowie cashed in big in alcohol sales on New Year's Eve, all because this was the first holiday season businesses were allowed to sell booze in the Texoma town.

"Everybody that lives out of town was just really stoked about getting to buy alcohol here," said Kellee Russell, a cashier at Island Time Liquors.

Island Time Liquors Employees say this New Year's Eve was their biggest day in sales since they opened in March of last year. After being disappointed with 4th of July sales, they weren't sure what to expect for the holidays.

"It was really busy. If we didn't double up on a lot of our stuff we would've ran out very fast," said Russell.

Russell says on Christmas Eve they cashed in about $5,000 and then tripled that amount on New Year's Eve. Their holiday gifts sets were sold out even two weeks before Christmas. But even though people are flocking to liquor stores, being a wet town is still creating controversy.

Kellee says, "At first I think a lot of people didn't want to be seen here with their vehicles outside or whatever."

Perhaps because many in town were worried that easy access to alcohol would lead to more drunk drivers. However, Bowie Police Officer David Scruggs told me only one arrest was made for drunk driving in the area on New Year's Eve. In fact he says, they've really seen no impact from this new law and some are not surprised.

"I didn't think it was going to make a big difference. Even if someone's going to drink and drive they're still going to go somewhere else and get the alcohol and drink and drive anyway," said Russell.

Tanya De Jesus, Newschannel Six