PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Shoppers won’t be lining up for Thanksgiving Day deals at stores in Rhode Island. They can’t.
While in other parts of the country retailers will offer holiday deals starting Thursday, most big stores in Rhode Island, Maine and Massachusetts are barred by law from opening on the holiday. It’s the legacy of so-called “blue laws,” which prohibit large supermarkets, big box stores and department stores from opening on Thanksgiving.
Some business groups complain it’s an unnecessary barrier during an era of 24-hour online shopping, and there have been some recent failed legislative attempts to change things. But many shoppers, workers and even retailers say they’re satisfied with the status quo: a one-day reprieve from work and holiday shopping.
So the Blue Laws are alive and well in New England. I hate Thanksgiving Day shopping. I think it is horribly unfair to workers who might like to be home with their families. However, the ban is totally nanny state. Perhaps a less offensive way to regulate retail business being conducted on federal holidays is to have state laws requiring businesses to pay double time or triple time wages. That way, the workers aren’t being totally screwed. How many people would volunteer to work on those days for that kind of money? Probably a great many.
Shutting down businesses is just too much like “Church Lady” to suit me. Now isn’t that speeeecial! Convenience stores are allowed to open. Movie theaters, pharmacies, restaurants and other businesses are permitted to stay open. LL Bean is allowed to stay open 24 hours a day. Employees receive extra pay and volunteer for shifts.
Do you support a state wide ban on retail stores being open on national holidays?
I keep thinking about the workers, though. I would bet most of them would like a holiday. If you’re a nurse, firefighter, cop, you know when you get into those jobs that you’re so essential that you’re probably going to sacrifice holidays. Not so much when you sign up to work at Coldwater Creek.
And there’s a part of me that doesn’t have as much of problem with states imposing laws like this as I would with the Federal government making such global mandates.
I don’t disagree with you about Coldwater Creek. I absolutely think people should get at least double time.
I suppose what astounded me is which states have blue lawed. I used to hate the blue laws when I was a kid. I thought they were absurd. I still have a mental picture of going in a drug store in Charlottesville as a teenager and seeing some of the aisle roped off. I think that is how stock was arranged back in “olden days.”
I was even more amazed to see blue laws still in effect over in the valley about 25 years ago. I always associated blue laws with the South, never with New England.
Connecticut’s blue laws go back to 1655 – these were a little more than traditional Sunday blue laws. Considering the early settlers were Puritans it shouldn’t be surprising. They were a little strict.
Not everything is or should be based on commercialism. Frankly, most people would be better off with a break from it and a little less spending!
I don’t disagree at all. I just don’t want the state dictating when stores can open. Virginia’s blue laws probably go back to 1607.
I don’t know why I always associate the blue laws with the bible belt. I think the south kept the laws while the north east tended to at least not enforce them.
Growing up in New England, I was used to pretty much nothing being open on Sundays and holidays except a few restaurants. We drove to the beach, went to the movies, or visited family. The big shopping day happened at Filene’s Basement on Black Friday. Truly insane, even in the ’70s.
Well,you learn something new every day. I had no idea that the south shared backwardness with New England.
Seriously. it is a relief to learn we weren’t the only ones “foot-loose”
You can call it “Nanny State” if you want, but I think it’s a good idea.
In America the earliest Sunday-closing laws date back to 1610 in the colony of Virginia. I wouldn’t call it backward.
They probably would have had someone drawn and quartered for violating the Sabbath back in those days.
I just remember the stupidity of those laws back when I was a kid. I don’t know about New England but in Virginia a drug store opened and there were things you could buy and things you couldn’t buy. You could probably buy Tylenol but not sun screen. I just don’t remember. My childhood was a long time ago.
When I came here in 1968, you couldn’t buy a drink in a restaurant. Then when you could get a drink at the bar, you were not allowed to carry it to your table. If you want a Bourbon and water for example, the came in separate containers and were poured together at your table. Very strange coming from California. I thought I had stepped into the Dark Ages.
I don’t disagree. @George.
There were lots of private bottle clubs.
@George S. Harris
My background is pretty much like yours. Coming here in 1974 after many years in the San Francisco Bay Area was like stepping back in time. The beer shelves were kept behind plastic drapes. One wasn’t allowed to carry a six-pack without a paperbag. One couldn’t buy beer before noon on Sundays.
That thing about not being able to carry one’s drink from one table to another was so ridiculous as to be unbelievable.
However, I tend to agree with Moon about the state dictating store hours. It’s not the American way
There are groups working to overthrow the blue laws. They’ll succeed if that’s what the citizens want. The package stores are winning.
Package stores always win, it seems.
Heh… growing up in New Orleans…… the grocery stores could be open on Sunday..but could only sell certain things. The French Quarter was always open.
Restaurants always served alcohol…and you could take your drink with you in a go cup.
Beer, wine, and hard liquor were sold at grocery stores.