Blue Laws? About This Page:

[mrsmaup]

Cheryl's earlier post about stores being open on Boxing Day reminded me about a conversation I had a while ago with the ladies(all of them much older than me) in my bible study. They were talking about how nobody stayed at home on Sunday's anymore since they repealed the shopping blue law. I didnt know what that was, so I had to look it up:

The
term "blue laws" originally applied to laws enacted by the Puritans in seventeenth-century Connecticut to regulate moral behavior (especially what people must or must not do on the Sabbath)

Anyway, I looked up when the shopping blue law was repealled in North Dakota and was suprised to find out it was only repealed 12 years ago, in 1991. Before that, only grocery stores, convenience stores, gas stations and resturaunts could be open on Sundays.

Do any of you remember a time when stores were not open on Sundays?

[chezp]

Yes - our stores only started opening on Sundays in the late 80's / early 90's. Even now, they're only allowed to open for six hours on a Sunday, under Sunday trading laws.

[*Pixie*Dust*]

Stores didn't start opening on Sunday until around 1980 here in NJ.
And we have one county, Bergen, that still stays closed.

[DVC_Don]

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Do any of you remember a time when stores were not open on Sundays?


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Oh gosh yes! I grew up in Massachusetts. I think there only convenience stores, gas stations and drug stores (no chain drug stores then) could be open on Sundays. But we lived on the New Hamster border and everything was open up there. I do remember the police in Massachusetts arresting store managers that opened other stores in the mid 80's when they started to test the law.

[Dumbo]

We got an Ames store in the fall of 1975 but I don't remember if it was open Sunday or not in the beginning. We don't live far from New York State and I can't remember when the mall started Sun hours.

The stores have been open on Sundays for so long that it's hard to remember a time when they weren't open. Makes me feel sad.

Signed,

Longing for simplier times.

[BostonTeaParty]

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Do any of you remember a time when stores were not open on Sundays?


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I grew up in Massachusetts. I think there only convenience stores, gas stations and drug stores (no chain drug stores then) could be open on Sundays. But we lived on the New Hamster border and everything was open up there.

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I still live in Massachusetts (not far from the NH border). The blue laws still exist here, in that liquor stores cannot open on Sundays -- except -- those within 20 miles of the NH border. I don't remember when that law was modified, but I think it applies to all liquor stores in the state during the holiday season. I think the state wants to benefit from all the booze buying that goes with the holiday season.

I'm old enough to remember when everything shut down on Sundays except for the movie theaters. It was so quiet, it was like a ghost town.

Could you imagine what it would be like if WDW shut down on Sundays??? That would have a huge impact on the bottom line.

[Janet 46]

I grew up in Bergen County in NJ and I thought that stores everywhere were closed on Sunday. Eventually, I discovered that the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne (Passaic County) was open.

[Belle*]

My parents live in Bergen County, NJ and I live in CT so we are VERY familiar with blue laws! In Ridgewood, NJ, where my parents live, none of the restaurants have liquor licenses so everything is BYOB. But you can buy liquor until pretty late. In CT you cannot buy liquor or beer on Sundays or after 9:00 pm on any other day. (This just changed, it was 8:00 until about 3 months ago.) Also, CT still has many laws on the books that dictate things like contraception or what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms!

[LuvMK]

Yes, I remember when nothing was open on Sundays. I don't really remember when the stores started opening on Sundays but there were still certain items that couldn't be sold on Sundays before noon - I remember grocery stores having areas roped off until noon.

There are still several counties in Texas that are "dry" and stores are not allowed to sell any alcoholic beverages. Restaurants get around the law by selling "memberships" because private clubs can sell drinks. Silly law - it just makes people drive a few miles to the next county to pick up beer or wine. Think of the sales tax dollars being lost by those dry counties!

[Irene]

<font color="blue"> I'm familiar with Blue Laws. I remember as a child stores not being open on Sunday. Then it changed stores opened around 11 or noon.

I was invited to a friends house for dinner. I thought I'd pick up some flowers and a bottle of wine. Much to my surprise I couldn't find anything open. Only to find out that my friend lived in Bergen County which still had the blue laws in affect. I just was amazed.... but the there was no traffic and it was actually nice. </font>

[loobyoxlip]

The only thing I know is the liquor section of the store being roped off until noon on Sunday, which is still in effect. As far as I remember, stores have been open on Sunday.

[simbarel]

I remember our Blue Law being repealed sometime in the 80s. Now the only Sunday restriction is limiting alcohol sales until noon.

[iloverags2]

A small village, South Holland, near where I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago still have blue laws in effect. Only businesses open are those serving travelers...gas stations and restaurants. Oh yes, it is also a dry town.

[mrsmaup]

They still are not allowed to sell any kind of liquor on Sundays, except for at Sams. Grocery stores still rope off the liquor section on Sundays.

No car lots open on Sundays either. Do any of your car dealerships open on Sundays? I wonder if that is a national law, as ive never seen a car dealership open on a Sunday.

I actually love car shopping on a Sunday. Gives you time to look at cars and get an idea of what you want w/o a salesman descending on you as soon as you drive in the lot.

Forget religious reasons for being closed on Sundays. Wouldnt it be nice to have things closed on Sundays again. We never slow down. A day w/nothing open would give families a better chance to spend time together. Go to the movies, go on a picnic, sled on a giant hill, racing your dad.

Weve had a "Sunday blue law" in effect in our home since we first had children. No friends over on Sunday, including the adults. Sunday is for us and us alone(unless we have company staying over of course). WE go to the movies, we take long drives in the country, go snowmobiling, 4 wheeling, out on the boat fishing, whatever we want. It is actually very nice and a restful way for my husband to spend his last day off before going back to a very stressful job.

[joyjoy]

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Do any of your car dealerships open on Sundays?

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They used to have to close on Sundays but they argued that they were losing so much money that the law was changed. Now they can open on Sunday and most do, but they have to close at least one day per week so many dealerships are closed on Monday. I've even seen some that close on Saturday and are open on Sunday.