DENVER -- Sunday liquor sales are just a few signatures away from being legal in Colorado, but Colorado grocery stores and convenience stores are pushing for Gov. Bill Ritter to veto the measure.

Sean Duffy, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Food Industry Association, said if the bill passes it will mean small convenience stores will have a loss of revenue, jobs and maybe close altogether.

Convenience stores and grocery stores can only sell 3.2 beer, and Duffy said about two-thirds of their beer sales are on Sunday, when liquor stores are closed. If liquor stores are allowed to sell full-strength beer on Sundays, convenience store beer sales will disappear, along with the profit, he said.

Their coalition is asking the governor to veto the legislation, or to at least consider new legislation that would allow convenience stores and grocery stores to sell full-strength beer.

"We're saying, why doesn't everybody sell regular beer seven days a week? It's a simple solution, gives consumers much more choice and will help level the playing field," said Duffy.

But a similar measure was roundly defeated earlier this session, and liquor store operators said out-of-state interests are just "crying in their beer."

"I just see it as a last-ditch effort by them to get in and make their case, and there are ways to do that," said Jim Dean, managing partner at Total Beverage in Westminster. "They can go before the Legislature again, and they can plead their case again, and maybe they'll find a different ear this time. But they already had their opportunity, and they didn't succeed."

He is so confident the governor will sign Sunday liquor sales into law that he has already hired an additional employee.

The bill awaits signatures from legislative leaders and then the governor.