From today’s Globe:
Electronics retailer CompUSA Inc. and Asian grocer Super 88 are planning to open on Thanksgiving Day in Massachusetts, apparently in defiance of the state’s 17th-century blue laws that prohibit most merchants from doing business on the holiday….
Woburn Police Chief Philip Mahoney , who approved a one-day permit for CompUSA, said: “Massachusetts has basically done away with the blue laws. There’s local control over this now and I look out for what’s going to negatively affect the neighborhood. I’m not going to stop these stores from opening.”
Meredith Baumann, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, which enforces violations of the blue laws, said, “We’re confident that all retailers are aware of the law and expected to comply with it. We will certainly review complaints as we receive them.”
Good God, a store opening on Thanksgiving! Call out the SWAT teams — scofflaws like this can’t be tolerated in our neighborhoods! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!
As long-time BMGers will recall, the blue laws are the relic of our Puritan past that I love to hate, but that some BMG denizens (including one esteemed co-blogger) see as an important means of guaranteeing a couple of days off a year for some retail workers (except for those who work in convenience stores, restaurants, auto parts stores …)
We had an excellent go-round on the blue laws a year ago when a couple of grocery stores (including the feisty Super 88) found themselves being shut down by the cops for opening on Thanksgiving. If you’re interested in looking over the discussion, here are some links:
The issue surfaces in a story out of RI
It comes back with a vengeance when AG Reilly starts sending out nasty-grams to grocery stores
A Globe article brings up some other amusing features of the centuries-old laws
Another post when the legislature tried to “clarify” these incredibly incomprehensible laws
And yet another go-round when Councillor Sam Yoon came out against blue laws
While having some sympathy for Charley’s argument about guaranteeing days off for (some) retail workers, simply requiring many businesses to completely shut down on certain days doesn’t seem like the way to address the issue. Requiring retail shops to pay 1.5 or twice minimum wage should be enough disincentive to open, and even if it isn’t then at least the folks stuck working benefit from the higher wage.
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This is sort of like the laws against selling wine in grocery stores (sorry for bringing this up again, but I think it’s an apt analogy). Some argue that allowing it hurts small businesses — fine, this may be true, but does this mean that it’s good policy to simply have a blanket ban on the practice? Are there not other ways to help out small businesses?
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Simply because a law might have a few benefical side-effects doesn’t mean that it’s a good law overall.
I could buy a bottle of wine at a Super-88.
sell wine at the Sunoco mini-mart down the street?
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Oh, wait….
You can probably get some “cold tea”.
was a post-club destination for Cold Tea back in the ’80s. Does this practice still go on, or are the laws too strict now?
but is was alive and well in Chinatown in the 90’s.
Well, now I know where I can go if I run out of… uh do you think they have cranberry sauce? đŸ˜›
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I enjoy David’s yearly War on Blue Laws. Go get ’em, David! đŸ™‚
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To me, a far more insidious scourge is the fact that we barely have Thanksgiving anymore because of this bum rush to get to Christmas. Decorations have been up in some places since October, but what really gets me is the damn radio stations that have been playing non-stop holiday christmas music since the first week of November! Think of the children, indeed! </scrooge>
Never listen to the radion, except 89.7 and 90.9, again.
that you buy fewer consumer items between Nov 1 and Dec 31 — and if you’re concerned about the holiday sales encroching on July 4th, don’t buy anything holiday related until the weekend after Thanksgiving. You’ll note that this is generally easy for men, as we tend to do most of our Christmas shopping on or after December 23.
Repeal them!
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Otherwise, under the “let’s ignore stupid laws” theory, who decides which laws are stupid and which to enforce?
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Do retailers just keep pushing the envelope to see what ahppens (passing along any fines as a cost of business), or ought there be some written guidelines–call them “laws”–that they can follow?
Personally, I’m all for out-and-out repeal of these dreadful laws.
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Failing that, the fact is that there are dozens of state law provisions, both in the blue laws and elsewhere, that are never enforced. Periodically the legislature talks about cleaning them up, but they always get stymied for one reason or another.
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It does seem as though, this year, the retailers have decided it’s time to really push the envelope and see how much they can get away with. Super 88 did the “defiance” thing last year, but being a largely Chinese-run and -patronized store, they have a really good case to make that the laws are grossly unfair. For CompUSA, it’s just a business decision — that’s the interesting new wrinkle this year.
have anything to be Thankful for?
sure, but the point is that Thanksgiving isn’t exactly a big holiday in China, so Chinese immigrants may not see it as a big deal and may find it annoying that they can’t shop on that day, and the businesses that serve them may find it annoying to lose all that business. Chinese New Year, however, is a big holiday in China, but the blue laws don’t forbid opening on that day. From a Globe story last year:
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These laws are culturally specific in a very damaging way. That’s my point.
Go, melting pot!
It’s a bit hard to tell…
Simply from distain of the colour.
and we should reinstate them fully.
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But I don’t expect a lot of support for that point of view.
Thanksgiving isn’t a European holiday. Its a purely American holiday. Laws, and certainly not the enforcement of these laws, based on a holiday created and only celebrated in America* because its “culturally specific” is wrong-headed. It doesn’t even have the argument of Christmas or Easter in that they are Holy Days in the Christian faith.
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Chinese immigrants who come to America aren’t put-upon because there is a preexisting culture in America. Its not “very damaging” that there is a parade they can’t get around in NYC on Thanksgiving, or that kids might come to their homes on Halloween asking for candy – or at least not in any way that is discriminatory.
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Furthermore, no actual damage exists. It may be “annoying” that people who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving can’t shop that day. It may be “annoying” that people who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving can’t open their stores on that day. That doesn’t amount to “very damaging.” Furthermore, you state later that its somehow damaging that blue laws don’t force them to close on days they do want to stay closed. Your argument isn’t even internally consistent.
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I’m not for the law because it seems unnecessary. It should be repealed, not ignored. However, thats not because of some kind of psuedo-racism or crypto-prejudice. Its because its not necessary.
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*Canada has a similar one but again, its only ‘culture’ is its own.
I never said that it was “damaging” that blue laws don’t force stores to close on Chinese New Year, though maybe my hastily-written blog comment left you with that misimpression. It should be perfectly obvious by now that I don’t think blue laws should force anyone to close, ever. I think they should be eliminated.
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As for whether actual “damage” exists, why don’t you ask Sam Yoon, whose first headline-grabbing action as a Boston City Councillor was to make a big deal about how unfair the blue laws are to the Asian community? Apparently he thought they were bad enough to make a fuss about.
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I maintain that it’s wrong to force businesses to close on days that they don’t want to close. I further maintain that to justify these laws because they are days on which some people want to spend time with their families is wrong-headed, since they accomplish that goal poorly for those who adhere to the majority culture and religion, and not at all for others.
Wouldn’t the Blue Laws have applied to the observance of the Sabbath and Christian holidays? Technically, Thanksgiving was not a statutory holiday until well after the establishment of the United States. Although I am not an expert on the Blue Laws, aren’t the current statutes on the books which regulate economic activity on holidays derived from very Victorian-era laws passed in the mid to late 19th century Massachusetts, not almost 400 year-old laws from the earliest colonial period? I know this is getting off topic, but I’ve always been confused when people throw around the term “blue laws.” I’d be happy to read a well-documented account of their origins.
are indeed Puritan-era. Some of the posts linked in the main post above have quotations from and discussions of the history — see if they’ve got what you’re looking for (try the one called “Clear as mud” to start with).
But as someone who works in the service industry there are only two days I am guaranteed to get off from work. they are Thanksgiving and Christmas day. I know some may view it as culturally horrible, but I look forward to knowing that there are two holidays I know I can sepnd with family, so I appreciate these blue protections. Just my two cents.
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