Shoppers en route to church or the supermarket on Sundays can swing by Glenn Miller's Beer and Soda Warehouse in Lemoyne as early as 10 a.m.



They also can pick up cases of Budweiser, Dogfish Head or Samuel Adams until 8 p.m. on Sundays. Quietly, the beer distributor has extended its Sunday hours.





Since Gov.

at the end of December, beer distributors around the state are permitted to open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays. Previously, beer runs could only be made between the hours of noon and 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Many like Glenn Miller’s are taking advantage of the extra hours to sell more beer, soda and snacks.

“I just think it’s a great opportunity for our customers. It bring our beer sales more to the modern age,” said Rodney A. Miller, owner and president of Glenn Miller’s.

In fact, the sales volume on Jan. 8 — the first Sunday the store’s hours were officially extended — was up 16 percent compared to the same Sunday in 2010, Miller said.

At Silver Spring Beverage in Silver Spring Twp, owner and manager Russ Dennison, said the store chose to open an extra hour at 11 a.m. as a trial period. The closing time will remain at 5 p.m.

Dennison said the store hours will likely be extended for holidays like Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, when people want to pick up beer before heading out to the beach or camping trips. He also might expand hours on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 5.

“The game is on at 6 p.m. and that is one of our biggest days of the year. Trying to squeeze all that sales into five hours is tough,” Dennison said.

The Hummelstown Beverage Distributors in Derry Twp. also tacked on an additional hour, moving the opening to 11 a.m., said its owner Henry Federowicz.

“Sundays haven’t been all that busy particularly in the later afternoon so we expanded to open a little bit earlier because we have the early rush and then it kind of tapers off,” he said.

He’s also thinking about extending hours on Super Bowl Sunday and possibly in the summer.

Mark Tanczos, president of the Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania, said he has no handle yet on how many beer distributors in the state are taking advantage of the extra hours.

After the holidays, business is typically slow in January, so many distributors might be waiting until Super Bowl Sunday and the summer to expand Sunday sales, he said.

“It’s just a tool to be able to serve the customer better and each business can do it the way they feel like doing it,” he said. “It’s not mandatory.”

Another provision allows restaurants that serve brunch or breakfast prior to 11 a.m. on Sundays to begin serving alcoholic beverages as early as 9 a.m. It also means supermarkets like Wegmans in Silver Spring Twp., which has a restaurant license, can sell six packs of beer earlier in the day.

However, the store has not changed the hours of its beer sales on Sundays, but anticipates doing so in the next couple of weeks, said Bob Finn, manager of the Wegmans store.

“It’s amazing how many people we have to turn away at 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning,” Finn said.