Are there "blue laws" in effect in your area?

[jenfromnj]

I live in an area in which blue laws have long been in effect, essentially closing most stores (aside from necessities like grocery stores) on Sundays. It is a county-wide law and has been this way forever. Lots of people love it because it minimizes traffic through the area, especially around holiday shopping time (our county is very shopping intensive, LOL).

There's a lot of controversy brewing now, since our governor announced his intention to bring about the forced repeal of the blue laws as a means of generating additional tax revenue for the state (we're fairly close to the NY border and some people go to NY to shop on Sundays, and some New Yorkers theoretically would come here to shop on Sundays but don't). Most people here are strongly in favor of the blue laws, so it is going to be interesting to see the battle that is likely to be in our future.

Some quick searches and discussions with friends in other states have led me to think that we're the anomaly here, since no one else seems to have or even know of other places with this wide-ranging Sunday closure. So I wanted to find out from a wider audience--is there anything like this in your area? If so, what is the general opinion about it?

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

In AZ you cannot buy alcohol before 10am Sunday, but that's about it. It seems to be primarily Southern to my knowledge.

[StantonHyde]

This is the bane of my existence. Trying to find stuff that is open on Sundays here can be a pain. Heck, the legislature passed a LAW that car dealerships MUST close one day a week because the dealerships that close on Sundays felt it was unfair competition that others could be open. ummm, its your religion--you could choose to stay open on Sunday--this is America, you have that choice, just as the dealer who chooses to be open on Sunday. yeesh.

[MoJo]

I grew up in northern Indiana, and there were blue laws there then, but not now.

The only Sunday law here (Ohio) now that I'm familiar with is limited liquor sales, and I think that is changing.

[maestramommy]

oops! double post!

[maestramommy]

Heck no. Capitalism is alive and well here:p Even in my small town, almost all the stores are open on Sundays.

[PearlsMom]

Hah! It's like that here (everything but grocery stores closed on Sunday, and those only open for 4 hours) and I HATE it. I work full time and I need some time to shop, darn it! That said, the closures are apparently entirely voluntary; it's just hard to find people willing to work on Sundays (even in this economy).

I've heard of blue laws in the States that relate to alcohol sales, but never anything as drastic as closing most businesses on Sunday. How home improvement stores survive without being open all weekend is beyong me...

[m448]

No but the closest thing that comes to it is the law prohibiting the sale of liquor before noon on Sunday.

[julevizamom]

I live in an area in which blue laws have long been in effect, essentially closing most stores (aside from necessities like grocery stores) on Sundays. It is a county-wide law and has been this way forever. Lots of people love it because it minimizes traffic through the area, especially around holiday shopping time (our county is very shopping intensive, LOL).

There's a lot of controversy brewing now, since our governor announced his intention to bring about the forced repeal of the blue laws as a means of generating additional tax revenue for the state (we're fairly close to the NY border and some people go to NY to shop on Sundays, and some New Yorkers theoretically would come here to shop on Sundays but don't). Most people here are strongly in favor of the blue laws, so it is going to be interesting to see the battle that is likely to be in our future.

Some quick searches and discussions with friends in other states have led me to think that we're the anomaly here, since no one else seems to have or even know of other places with this wide-ranging Sunday closure. So I wanted to find out from a wider audience--is there anything like this in your area? If so, what is the general opinion about it?

Jen,

My DH grew up in Fair Lawn (I'm assuming you're in Bergen), and every time we go to visit his folks, I HATE that nothing is open on Sunday. I grew up in Morris County, and now we're in Northern VA, so I'm still not used to closed malls. Given the religious diversity of the area, and the fact that most stores give their employees one or two days a week off, I really don't see a need for it. I know a lot of New Yorkers come in to Bergen to shop since there's no sales tax on clothes, so having the extra weekend day for shopping would be a huge boon to the economy. Not a big fan of the governor, but I'd support him on this one.

[jenfromnj]

This is the bane of my existence. Trying to find stuff that is open on Sundays here can be a pain. Heck, the legislature passed a LAW that car dealerships MUST close one day a week because the dealerships that close on Sundays felt it was unfair competition that others could be open. ummm, its your religion--you could choose to stay open on Sunday--this is America, you have that choice, just as the dealer who chooses to be open on Sunday. yeesh.

I am waiting for the separation of church and state debate to begin around here, since the stated purpose of the blue laws is technically based in religion.

This is the first time in my memory that there's been a serious push to repeal this, and people are really passionate about it, so it should be interesting. Our new governor is making quite a splash, in this and many other ways (I won't even begin to get into his proposal to eliminate funding to Planned Parenthood or his substantial cuts to school funding).

[annasmom]

I'm in Central NJ where the stores are open on Sunday, and I love it.

That being said, I grew up in Bergen and I completely understand why residents like the blue laws. It is a zoo up there on the weekends, and having some reprieve from the madness is really nice.

However, if we were a 2 income family who had to run all of our errands on Saturday only, that would be a major hassle. I also don't understand how the Orthodox Jewish population in Bergen doesn't press more for the repeal (or do they?)

[klwa]

Used to be much stricter here than it is now, but you still can't buy alcohol on Sundays before noon.

[jenfromnj]

I've heard of blue laws in the States that relate to alcohol sales, but never anything as drastic as closing most businesses on Sunday.

This is actually why I posted, I can't find anywhere else here that has blue laws nearly this limiting, and was curious to see whether I'd simply missed something in my (brief) search. People from outside the area think it's kind of insane, LOL--my husband did not grow up around here, and he still occasionally tries to run to the mall nearby on Sundays.

[Seitvonzu]

i remember when i was growing up in houston, tx and the mall started opening on sundays--it was a HUGE deal. before that, hardly anything was open sundays. my parents also used to drink wine/beer (not the driver, but the passengers) on the drive to a restaurant with friends.... ah the wild south! :)

PA had weird liquor laws-- but i don't think they were blue laws specifically.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We don't have anything like that AFAIK (in our Southern town) but I would LOVE it if we did. Chick-Fil-A is the only thing I know totally closed on Sunday, and their reasoning behind it sounds great to me. We ALL need more rest and time with family and friends!

summary from the CFA FAQ page: In 1946, the founder of CFA, Truett Cathy, made the decision to close on Sundays for practical and spiritual reasons. He believes all owner-operators and employees should have an opportunity to rest, spend tiem with family and friends, and worship, if they choose to do so. That's why all CFA restaurants are closed on Sundays. It's part of their recipe for success.

[ThreeofUs]

Oh, yeah. Ohio is a bastion of blue laws. But only 1/2 day. Like stores don't open until after 12, and you can't buy alcohol until after 1.

[WatchingThemGrow]

wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_law) gives good info about blue laws.

I learn something every time I login here. :)

[okinawama]

I'm from South Dakota, lived in Colorado,Texas, Oregon, New Mexico and Florida and in the cities I lived in we didn't have a law like that. There were rules on liquor sales on Sunday though.

[JTsMom]

Stores can open on Sundays here, but a lot of them don't. Most businesses, except for the big chains, are closed. It's very frustrating.

There are no alcohol sales on Sunday, except in eateries, and that's very new- you used to not be able to buy it anywhere, so many of them also closed on Sundays. You can't buy hard liquor at all in our county.

We also have really bizarre obscenity laws. You can't buy ribbed condoms, or KY warming gel. Seriously.

[lovin2shop]

I totally remember the Blue Laws having grown up in Houston as well. I couldn't have been more excited when the malls started opening on Sundays. Also, I clearly remember my Mom getting extremely irritated at a grocery store clerk on a Sunday because some of the items she was purchasing were not allowed to be bought on Sundays. No, it wasn't alcohol, it was coloring books and crayons! My little sister had chicken pox and my mom was trying to get her some things to keep her mind off of it. Any non-food related essential could not be rung up on a Sunday, so they made us put it all back.

I think the only form of Blue Laws left here now is that stores are open for a shorter time on Sundays (usually 12-6), but I think even that has changed since there are several stores now open extended hours. We do have all sorts of liquor laws and many counties are still dry so you must belong to a "club" in order to buy a drink. Additionally, liquor stores are often all lined up on a "liquor row" at the border to a wet county. This has all been slowly changing county by county of late. For the longest time, I couldn't buy wine at my closest grocery store. Thank goodness, I can buy there now! Plus, it paved the way for a new Costco, since they will not open in area that doesn't allow beer and wine sales.

[Dream]

I'm in NY and I had no idea about this law. I shop on Sundays lot of time.

[jenfromnj]

Stores can open on Sundays here, but a lot of them don't. Most businesses, except for the big chains, are closed. It's very frustrating.

This is really interesting! We know a few people who own small/local businesses in our area, and they unanimously wish they had the option to be open on Sundays. I wonder if it's a geographic thing.



We also have really bizarre obscenity laws. You can't buy ribbed condoms, or KY warming gel. Seriously.

Wow! I feel awful for the poor teenaged clerk at CVS who has to be responsible for imposing those on customers!

[MontrealMum]

Where I grew up, West Michigan, is full of laws like that. Some are by city and some are by county. Lots of dry towns, early closing times, many places closed on Sun. (by choice) no alcohol before noon on Sun (and locked gates over it at Meijer's), no liquor licenses given to stores in a certain proximity to churches etc. etc. I thought I was used to that sort of thing.

But when I moved here - a city/province known for strip joints, sex clubs and a super-low drinking age - I certainly had to learn some new shopping times! MOST stores are open basically M-W from 9 - 5. *Maybe* 6 pm. LATE shopping days are Th/Fri and they then close at 9 pm. Groceries and pharmacies are exempt from whatever laws govern those odd hours and are open to 8/10 pm, with some all-night or late-night pharmacies. Some of the larger big box stores are open later M-W (like Walmart), but it's still pretty rare, and I'm not sure if the laws have loosened, or if they're doing it via some sort of loophole. Sat. hours are usually 9/10-5 and Sun. are noon-5.

The super fun part is that when the big grocery store chain, Loblaws, came into Quebec about 8 years ago now, the government decided to enforce a law (that they hadn't been enforcing) that grocery stores could only be open past 5 on weekends if they only had 4 employees on the floor at any given time. That's counting all employees from the cashiers and baggers to the deli clerk. It's meant as protectionist legislation for Mom & Pop dépanneurs (convenience stores). So, for awhile (years) the main grocery stores (IGA, Metro etc) were closed between 4-5 pm on sat/sun so that they could rotate their employees and give everyone their mandated break times. Recently it seems that the gov't has eased up on that because I've noticed more workers in the stores on the weekends and much shorter lines. Also, our neighborhood store seems to be open right through, and does not close for that onehour period anymore. Loblaws just closes at 5 on the weekends.

Also, we buy all hard liquor at the liquor commission (SAQ)...(they also sell the good wine, and a selection of beer). Which is run by the government. :D You can buy beer and cheaper wine at the dep or grocery store. No alcohol or tobacco can be sold by pharmacies (health law). The real fun place is Ontario, though. There you buy hard liquor at the liquor commission (LCBO), and beer at The Beer Store. I didn't believe DH the first time he told me that's where we were going!

[Jo..]

Liquor stores here are closed on Sundays. I think that's it. (OK)

IN Wv, you couldn't even buy grocery store beer on Sundays, although they dis sell wine at grocery stores which was nice (one less trip).

I grew up in a "dry county" in NY. No alcohol sold in the whole county, period. No beer, no wine, no nothing. Had to drive to the next town to get your groove on.

[hwin708]

I had no idea places had laws for this. The closest I've ever experienced/seen is no alcohol on Sundays. And that has annoyed and inconvenienced me enough while traveling. I can't even imagine not being able to do just about anything.

That being said, many local stores here are closed on Mondays. Which, to me, seems a far more logical choice than Sundays, since more people are off work or school on Sundays, and need to get their shopping in. And even with Monday closures, that's entirely optional, and primarily just smaller local stores. All the big chains are definitely open.

I don't even thnk I can wrap my ead around the appeal or non-religious rationale for this. It's JUST that it cuts down on traffic?? Why would people even care, since thre's hardly any place they can go, lol!

[JTsMom]

Wow! I feel awful for the poor teenaged clerk at CVS who has to be responsible for imposing those on customers!


Oh no, this is 24/7!!! They can't sell them period. Just thought it was relative since it's a morality law thing.

I think it's definitely a geographical thing. The south is notorious for this stuff.

[bluestarfish18]

Alabama should be its own country. We can't buy alcohol at all on Sundays. No drinking in resturants on Sunday either, unless you "buy" a pass from each individual place. Plus, you can't have any sort of porn sent to you.

[JTsMom]

Alabama should be its own country.
:rotflmao: We aren't far from the border- I hear ya!

[DrSally]

No liquor or car sales around here on Sunday's. I think in smaller towns, a lot of retail is closed to. I don't like how late stores open on Sunday's (11am). Weekends are my only chance to get stuff done wo/the kids, and I could use that option.

[AJP]

Heck no. Capitalism is alive and well here:p Even in my small town, almost all the stores are open on Sundays.

We used to drive over the border from MA to buy at the NH state liquor store on Sundays! Those were the days of leisure Sunday afternoons having house parties & bbq's - child free. Now I just run into the local liquor store in my town when I feel a need to pull out my twisty straw...even on Sunday! Most stores, car dealerships etc open on Sunday here. Malls and some other stores open later (11am or noon) but places like grocery, target, cvs all open early.

[AnnieW625]

No there is no such blue laws in California that I know of. When I was growing up though the city of Davis was a dry city and you couldn't buy alcohol in the entire city. My dad was a manager at a liquor store in my home town 10 miles away and he got lots of business because of this.

[wellyes]

Not here. I think that might be nice for SAHMs and retirees but very hard on working parents. IMO closing *voluntarily* on Sunday is great but shouldn't be a law.

[MamaKath]

Jen,

My DH grew up in Fair Lawn (I'm assuming you're in Bergen), and every time we go to visit his folks, I HATE that nothing is open on Sunday. I grew up in Morris County, and now we're in Northern VA,
Small world, lol! I grew up in Morris also and now live outside DC also. I spent many years living in Bergen though but I enjoyed the Blue laws there.

Many places have a loop in the blue law that basically says that businesses should close for 1 day, but gives them the choice of day. Though many would still choose Sunday so that they wouldn't have to deal with lack of traffic. Honestly it must not hurt businesses (though I guess that the state of NJ feels it would benefit them tax wise) or they would have fought it long ago!

As a side thought, there are businesses that are nationwide but do not open on Sundays at all. Chik-fil-a is one. Growing up in NJ where the only one was in Bergen, I thoguht that was why it was closed Sundays. Turns out it is a corporate policy.

[Cam&Clay]

I grew up in Norfolk, VA where the blue laws weren't repealed until the late 80s. When I went off to college, I was shocked out of my mind that you could go to the mall on a Sunday. Or to Kmart. Or anywhere but the grocery store.

It sucked because the sale ads would be in the paper on Sunday but you couldn't go buy anything until Monday.

[LD92599]

I'm in Bergen County so yes, there's blue laws, and they'd better stick around! Granted on Sundays we tend to go to Palisades Center or Secaucus if we really need to, but even w/ working FT i do errands on my lunch hour or we do alot of errands on Saturday. Plus there's enough open on Sundays (Costco, just can't buy clothes and household stuff, saves $$!). It's so nice to be able to cruise right through on Route 4 or 17!

[Clarity]

We don't have anything like that AFAIK (in our Southern town) but I would LOVE it if we did. Chick-Fil-A is the only thing I know totally closed on Sunday, and their reasoning behind it sounds great to me. We ALL need more rest and time with family and friends!

We don't have this here either, but I agree, I wish we did. I think one day a week in which everything slows down would be really nice. It would be an adjustment to make sure we've run our errands before Sunday but I'm sure we'd get used to it.

[Momof3Labs]

I grew up in a Chicago suburb where everything - including the grocery store - was closed on Sunday, except McDonald's when they opened. I think that the walk up was open but not the drive thru, or vice versa. No alcohol sold in this suburb at all. I don't know if the laws have changed in the 15 years since my parents moved away but I knew all about them growing up.

It was a Dutch reformed community, and the blue laws were driven by the strong religious community that used to live there.

Of course, we'd just drive 7 minutes to the next suburb and accomplish what we needed on Sundays!

[dowlinal]

I'm in Bergen County so yes, there's blue laws, and they'd better stick around! Granted on Sundays we tend to go to Palisades Center or Secaucus if we really need to, but even w/ working FT i do errands on my lunch hour or we do alot of errands on Saturday. Plus there's enough open on Sundays (Costco, just can't buy clothes and household stuff, saves $$!). It's so nice to be able to cruise right through on Route 4 or 17!


I'm here too and I will be seriously mad if they do away with Blue Laws. I've lived here all my life and every few years there is a push to eliminate them and the referendum is overwhelmingly shot down. I'm annoyed that it looks like the governor is looking to do an end run around this. I didn't realize until today that technically blue laws are in effect for all of NJ, but counties can opt out via a referendum. Bergen is the only county that has chosen not to opt out, so, if Christie can get the legislature to change the law then our vote will no longer matter.

[codex57]

No there is no such blue laws in California that I know of. When I was growing up though the city of Davis was a dry city and you couldn't buy alcohol in the entire city. My dad was a manager at a liquor store in my home town 10 miles away and he got lots of business because of this.

Really? A college town? Wow. Hard to imagine.

[soontobe]

I'm in NYC about a 5 minute drive from NJ and I HATe that nothing is open in NJ on Sundays because that is my only day to go shopping so even though IKEA is about 10 minutes away from me I actually can never get there:irked: I really hope they get rid of those laws, when I first heard about it I thought is was so strange :ROTFLMAO:

[elliput]

I think there used to be one prohibiting the sale of liquor on holidays. It might still be in effect, I just haven't tested it recently.

There was a blue law in Helena, MT that stated anyone dancing on tables must be wearing at least two pounds of clothing. :ROTFLMAO: That originated during the days when Helena was a mining town and had lots of saloons.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

Really? A college town? Wow. Hard to imagine.

Sunday was cow tippin' day! :ROTFLMAO:

[LD92599]

I'm in NYC about a 5 minute drive from NJ and I HATe that nothing is open in NJ on Sundays because that is my only day to go shopping so even though IKEA is about 10 minutes away from me I actually can never get there:irked: I really hope they get rid of those laws, when I first heard about it I thought is was so strange :ROTFLMAO:

Ikea in Elizabeth at least is open and w/ lower sales tax! Ikea and the huge TRU/BRU combination together!

[jenfromnj]

Thanks so much for all the insight! It's fascinating to hear the varying degrees of this all over the country. It's also interesting to hear that there really are still true religious-based blue laws in other parts of the country.


I'm here too and I will be seriously mad if they do away with Blue Laws. I've lived here all my life and every few years there is a push to eliminate them and the referendum is overwhelmingly shot down. I'm annoyed that it looks like the governor is looking to do an end run around this. I didn't realize until today that technically blue laws are in effect for all of NJ, but counties can opt out via a referendum. Bergen is the only county that has chosen not to opt out, so, if Christie can get the legislature to change the law then our vote will no longer matter.

I just learned that today, too (about the opting out)! And yes, it definitely sounds as though Christie is working out a plan to remove the decision from the local/county level, since as you mentioned, it has gone down in flames each time it's come up.

So many of my friends and family are enraged about the possibility of the repeal. I don't feel quite as passionately about it, but it IS nice to drive through Paramus on Sundays. We were just on Route 17 running errands today before Gymboree (used our F&F at the big Gap!) and it took 20 minutes to go less than 2 miles. I think if I lived in Paramus I'd probably feel more strongly about it. But I can imagine that, especially when I go back to work, it would be convenient to have the nearby stores/malls open on Sundays--it's kind of a double-edged sword.

[MelissaTC]

We can't buy beer or wine until noon on Sunday. Small business tend to be closed. The malls open at noon. Liquor store is closed but thank goodness for the supermarket selling beer and wine.

[jenfromnj]

Jen,

My DH grew up in Fair Lawn (I'm assuming you're in Bergen), and every time we go to visit his folks, I HATE that nothing is open on Sunday. I grew up in Morris County, and now we're in Northern VA, so I'm still not used to closed malls. Given the religious diversity of the area, and the fact that most stores give their employees one or two days a week off, I really don't see a need for it. I know a lot of New Yorkers come in to Bergen to shop since there's no sales tax on clothes, so having the extra weekend day for shopping would be a huge boon to the economy. Not a big fan of the governor, but I'd support him on this one.

Yep, Bergen County. I love it, I hate it, but I wouldn't want to live elsewhere :) We lived in Central NJ (Westfield) for a few years when we were first married, after living in Hoboken, and I'm happy to be back up here. Thankfully we don't live in a super high traffic area/town, but our town does border Paramus so we're close enough. We also have a downtown shopping area here that I selfishly would love to have open on Sundays.

The governor said yesterday in his speech that the repeal of the blue laws could generate $65 million in additional tax revenue, since, as you said, NY'ers come here to save sales tax. I know many people are questioning that number, and I've yet to see the details of where it came from, but that's what's being reported.

[jenfromnj]

I also don't understand how the Orthodox Jewish population in Bergen doesn't press more for the repeal (or do they?)

I wonder about this myself--you're totally correct that there is a significant Orthodox presence in the area. I have never heard of a press for a repeal by any of the Orthodox communities, though. However, the last vote on this I can recall was a number of years ago, so my memory might be fuzzy.

[jenfromnj]

Jen,

Not a big fan of the governor, but I'd support him on this one.

At least the idea of repealing the blue laws makes some sense, I'll give him that. Unlike the 100 PERCENT proposed cut to state aid for my town's public schools. I have a few friends who are teachers in my school district (and neighboring districts with similar proposals) and it's apparently mayhem among teachers and school employees.

[LexyLou]

I just moved back to CA after living in Bergen County for 4 years. HATE HATE HATED those Stupid blue laws. Not only is it stupid it's offensive. There is a HUGE Orthodox Jewish population in that area and they are forced to shop in NY since they can't shop on Saturday and then everything is closed on Sunday. Sunday is not everybody's Sabbath. It's such a backward law.

I think Bergen County and maybe one place in Oregon are the only two in the Country with Blue Laws.

On a weirder note. My mom grew up in Bergen County in the 60's and they did not have the Blue Laws then. So it must have come in to practice some time in the 70's.

[tylersmama]

I'm in Colorado, and we have a few remnants. The legislature just passed a law a couple of years ago allowing liquor stores to open on Sundays. Before that, the only thing you could buy on Sundays was 3.2 beer that's sold in grocery/convenience stores. A law to allow grocery/convenience stores to sell full-strength alcohol failed in committee a couple of months ago.

We also have the oh-so-bizarre (to me, anyway) car dealerships closing on Sundays. It honestly boggles my mind. I mean, weekends are when people have time to go spend hours at a dealership looking, test driving, haggling, etc., so why on earth would you want to take one of those days away? I really don't get it.

I grew up in a small town in Ohio, so most smaller businesses were closed on Sunday, but generally restaurants, and chains were open. Our Sunday routine was typically church, lunch (usually Ponderosa! :p), then a trip to Wal-Mart, or a drive to the closest "city" to go to the mall.

[dowlinal]

At least the idea of repealing the blue laws makes some sense, I'll give him that. Unlike the 100 PERCENT proposed cut to state aid for my town's public schools. I have a few friends who are teachers in my school district (and neighboring districts with similar proposals) and it's apparently mayhem among teachers and school employees.

We must live very close to each other because our school district lost 90% of it's aid and most of the surrounding towns have lost 100%. I'm really worried about how this is going to affect my kids.

[dowlinal]

I just moved back to CA after living in Bergen County for 4 years. HATE HATE HATED those Stupid blue laws. Not only is it stupid it's offensive. There is a HUGE Orthodox Jewish population in that area and they are forced to shop in NY since they can't shop on Saturday and then everything is closed on Sunday. Sunday is not everybody's Sabbath. It's such a backward law.

I think Bergen County and maybe one place in Oregon are the only two in the Country with Blue Laws.

On a weirder note. My mom grew up in Bergen County in the 60's and they did not have the Blue Laws then. So it must have come in to practice some time in the 70's.

Actually the blue law in Paramus are not religious in nature. The law dates back to 1957 when the Bergen Mall and Garden State Plaza were first being built. The town wanted at least one day free from the congestion that the two new malls would bring.

[LexyLou]

Actually the blue law in Paramus are not religious in nature. The law dates back to 1957 when the Bergen Mall and Garden State Plaza were first being built. The town wanted at least one day free from the congestion that the two new malls would bring.


well I do agree that 17 and 4 are easy breezy on Sundays, but even if the law isn't religious in nature it still affects people and why chose Sunday and not Saturday.

Also, I'm surprised to see it started in 1957 because my mom swears there were not blue laws in the 60's and my grandma says the same thing. I wonder if they are losing their minds.

[Happy 2B mommy]

The car dealerships are closed on Sunday, but the bars and liquor stores are all open at 10:00 a.m. !!! (hey, I'm in WISCONSIN!! Gimme a brat and beer after church!)

[essnce629]

I'd never even heard of a "blue law" till I read this thread! I would hate not being able to do any shopping on Sundays.

[luza]

For those of you in blue law areas, what do working people do if they don't have the option to drive to other areas to do their weekend shopping? I can't imagine that everyone has cars and/or can afford the extra gas money...

[jenfromnj]

We must live very close to each other because our school district lost 90% of it's aid and most of the surrounding towns have lost 100%. I'm really worried about how this is going to affect my kids.

Dowlinal, do you live in a "W" town by any chance? My close friend and my sister who live in the neighboring W towns in northern BC are losing 90 and 100 percent, respectively, as well. We live in the R town next to Paramus and GR.

My son just turned 1, so not school-aged yet, but we too are extremely concerned that our town and the nearby towns seem to be the hardest hit by the proposed cuts, with many if not most losing 90-100%. One of the main reasons we moved here and paid a premium for our fairly modest house was the excellent schools, and it will be very frustrating and disappointing to see that jeopardized (or our taxes hiked significantly) by this.

[LD92599]

For those of you in blue law areas, what do working people do if they don't have the option to drive to other areas to do their weekend shopping? I can't imagine that everyone has cars and/or can afford the extra gas money...

Pretty much for anywhere in the county it's < 20 minute drive to a mall that IS open, plus there's a ton of new stores in Secaucus and North Bergen that are open on Sunday (brand new TRU, BRU, Target, Walmart, etc).

There's stores that are owned by the Orthodox population that close Friday Afternoon, closed all day Saturday and re-open Saturday Night and are open on Sunday, they just can't sell clothing and a few other items. The town w/ the heavily orthodox population is pretty busy on Sunday's on their main thoroughfare.

[dowlinal]

Dowlinal, do you live in a "W" town by any chance? My close friend and my sister who live in the neighboring W towns in northern BC are losing 90 and 100 percent, respectively, as well. We live in the R town next to Paramus and GR.

My son just turned 1, so not school-aged yet, but we too are extremely concerned that our town and the nearby towns seem to be the hardest hit by the proposed cuts, with many if not most losing 90-100%. One of the main reasons we moved here and paid a premium for our fairly modest house was the excellent schools, and it will be very frustrating and disappointing to see that jeopardized (or our taxes hiked significantly) by this.

Yep I live in the poorer W town on the boarder of the richer one. How funny would it be if I knew your sister or your friend? My town is pretty small so if they have kids the same age as mine then it's a pretty good possibility.

From some of your past posts I thought that we were close to each other. Even funnier, I'm a lawyer too.

[dowlinal]

For those of you in blue law areas, what do working people do if they don't have the option to drive to other areas to do their weekend shopping? I can't imagine that everyone has cars and/or can afford the extra gas money...


There is very little public transportation here so everyone pretty much does have a car. Most of the public transportation is geared towards people commuting into NYC and the weekend schedules are minimal. I'm not even sure that it's possible to get to the Paramus malls from most of the surrounding towns.

Also, like Laura said we're a small county. I can drive to Wayne, which allows Sunday shopping, in the same amount of time it takes me to get to Paramus.

[vonfirmath]

When I grew up (in Texas) nothing but pharmacies (and restaurants?) were open on Sunday. No big deal.

Where my parents are, one county can't open on Sundays before X time. The other can. This was interesting the year the day after Christmas was a Sunday.

It's nice to be able to do grocery shopping and such on Sunday, but I also think things are more peaceful when you have the familytime then. It isn't something I'd get all up in arms about either way. Much bigger fish to fry here.

[wellyes]

It's nice to be able to do grocery shopping and such on Sunday, but I also think things are more peaceful when you have the familytime then.Yes, but you never have to go out on Sundays. I've actually been a little jealous of Jewish friends who observe the Sabbath (no work allowed) but really, there's nothing stopping me from creating a similar tradition for myself.

I know around here there are people waiting in the parking lots for stores to open on Sunday - usually 11 a.m. - so I can understand why from a tax perspective it makes sense to raise revenue by keeping stores open during rough financial times. Maybe the governor should do a trial period of permitting stores to be open on Sunday...... let the people vote with their wallets. If they want to shop & revenues start pouring in, it was a great idea. If not, well, that means that maybe the people opposed to the change are right and they can go back to the old way.

[MontrealMum]

For those of you in blue law areas, what do working people do if they don't have the option to drive to other areas to do their weekend shopping? I can't imagine that everyone has cars and/or can afford the extra gas money...

You adjust your life accordingly. For me, driving to another county isn't an option - the places I've lived the laws like this have affected the whole state/province.

I don't know, maybe that's easy for me to say, but I grew up in a place with blue laws, and I moved to a place with other restrictive laws on buying/selling and opening/closing. It was the same, but different (in terms of days/times/and what was affected). I won't lie and say it wasn't a pain to adjust to the new set of restrictions here in QC - especially in those early years before internet shopping really took off. But now, I just do a lot of shopping online, or brave the crowds. I don't have a choice, and don't really know it any other way.

For me, though, these laws don't affect when I can buy (some sort of) food, or access to pharmacies. It's liquor and material goods - things I don't need "right now" and that I can arrange my schedule to aquire.

[daniele_ut]

For those of you in blue law areas, what do working people do if they don't have the option to drive to other areas to do their weekend shopping? I can't imagine that everyone has cars and/or can afford the extra gas money...

I grew up in an area that had extreme blue laws. The town where we spent our summers made you move your car outside the city limits by midnight and not bring it back in until the following day. There was no driving in the city on Sunday at all, and theoretically you weren't supposed to bike, trike or skate either. The beaches were closed on Sunday as were all of the businesses in town. It was, and still is, a completely dry town.

I now belong to a religion that asks me to keep the sabbath holy by NOT shopping, eating out or working on Sundays. I also work full time M-F. I often grocery shop on Friday afternoon (skipping my lunch and leaving a little early). I usually have errands to do on Saturday morning, but I don't spend an inordinate amount of time doing them. For me, it's just no big deal to avoid shopping on Sundays.

I don't necessarily think that religious based blue laws need to exist, however. If they are aimed at reducing traffic in an area like Northern NJ, where I grew up, then that makes total sense to me. I hadn't heard about the car dealership one here that StantonHyde mentioned. Pretty much every chain store stays open here on Sunday. There are a lot of mom and pop places that close, however.

[jenfromnj]

Yep I live in the poorer W town on the boarder of the richer one. How funny would it be if I knew your sister or your friend? My town is pretty small so if they have kids the same age as mine then it's a pretty good possibility.

From some of your past posts I thought that we were close to each other. Even funnier, I'm a lawyer too.

That's a really funny coincidence! My friend who lives in your W doesn't yet have kids, but they just bought their house about 3 months ago and are freaked out about their investment.


Yep I live in the poorer W town on the boarder of the richer one. How funny would it be if I knew your sister or your friend? My town is pretty small so if they have kids the same age as mine then it's a pretty good possibility.

From some of your past posts I thought that we were close to each other. Even funnier, I'm a lawyer too.

LOL at your town being the "poorer W"! We refer to our home as "the shack", since so many of the homes around here have been turned into McMansions, while we're still mostly original (not very big) footprint, and it looks pretty tiny in comparison.

Completely random and OT, but are you still a practicing lawyer, if you don't mind me asking? I am struggling with whether to return to practice, and all of my lawyer mom friends in the area seem to have given it up. Just wondering whether anyone around this area is actually managing it--there seems to be a great deal of pressure in the "mom" circles around here to not work, but that might just be me, projecting. I tried to go part-time, but that was not well-received, so I've been home for the past year.