FORT MILL, S.C. — COVID-19 safety measures related to the sale of alcohol and mass gatherings are terminated in South Carolina as of March 1.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster announced the move last week to lift the ‘Last Call’ Order, which cut off alcohol sales at 11 p.m.
Additionally, approval from the South Carolina Department of Commerce for events involving more than 250 people will no longer be required.
“With the spread of the virus consistently decreasing across the country and more of the most vulnerable South Carolinians being vaccinated every day, I believe these targeted and limited safety measures are no longer necessary,” Gov. Henry McMaster said. “The virus is still among us and we all must continue to make responsible decisions to take care of ourselves and our loved ones, but those decisions are for South Carolinians to make.”
Victor and Jennifer D’Auria, owners of D’Aurias in Fort Mill said revenue dropped off from 35% to 40% when alcohol sales were cut off at 11 p.m.
The bar started focusing more on its menu and food, even bringing in a food truck to help make up for the loss in profits.
Victor said he was “shocked” to hear the news that alcohol sales could return to 2 a.m.
“We were happy as heck,” Victor said. “It was, you know, great news for my customers. You know, they like the idea. They've been waiting for that to happen, and we were very excited."
Jennifer immediately started thinking about adjusting the bar’s hours and their upcoming St. Patrick’s Day party on March 20.
“I think I’d rather be adjusting in a positive than in a negative at this point,” she added.
The bar has already hired two more employees to accommodate the change in hours.
“A good percentage of South Carolina has service industry staff that has been seriously affected by this on the coast, Upstate, wherever,” Jennifer said, “and these people need to get back to work.”
Patrons at D'Aurias will still be encouraged to follow COVID-19 safety measures like wearing a mask, social distancing, and using hand sanitizer.
According to Governor McMaster’s news release, “South Carolinians are still strongly encouraged to take appropriate safety precautions, including practicing social distancing and wearing face coverings when social distancing is not possible.”
Jennifer and Victor said they have noticed an increase in customers coming to South Carolina from North Carolina, where alcohol sales recently moved from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.
"They're coming from Concord and Salisbury,” Jennifer said.
"And Huntersville,” Victor added. “They'll make the trip. We're close to 77, so they make it real easy to come."
Time Out in Rock Hill is slowly easing into the new change in alcohol sales hours.
"We're going to stay open one hour extra,” said Jesse Freeman, general manager at Time Out. “That's till 12 a.m. We're going to see how that goes, and once we get a good grasp on how everybody's doing, we're going to slowly keep going to 2."
Freeman said the bar and grill lost about a quarter of its profits last year due to the pandemic restrictions and alcohol sales time limit.
“Kind of threw us on our tail end when the pandemic started and the lockdown happened,” Freeman said. “We had to figure out how to sell more food versus alcohol.”
Freeman said hearing the news that the restrictions on hours of alcohol sales were lifted came as a relief.
"It does feel like maybe we're going to start to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Freeman said. “It's getting brighter. It does feel like it is possible that we’re going to get back to that, that normalcy that we once had.”