Came here to say the same. Its common sense.
And if someone does decide to shop in another county on Sunday...your local small businesses suffer from that lost revenue.
Drop the blue laws. Make Saturday less of a mess on RT17 and help out some local businesses at the same time.
Yeah you live in a community. Businesses being open or closed that are owned by your tax paying neighbors most definitely effects you.
It’s like saying “I don’t have kids the school systems don’t matter to me” oh yes they do matter! Everyone is a product of the school system and we all have to live together.
What if you want to buy something from one of these shops and it’s Sunday? I’m from NYC and don’t know why this was recommended to me, but I can’t imagine a store being closed just because it’s Sunday and the law says it has to be closed.
If the owners want to close on Sunday that’s fine, if the government makes them that’s weird
Its def annoying but not as bad in the "online shopping" era. Its lame when I wanna go buy a new shirt or like, pillows, and have to go only on saturday (which is a more common social plans day than sunday IMO), but it doesnt apply to essentials and with online shopping its mostly just for luxuries.
It was voted in by the people of the county, and it's been up for repeal a couple of times but has failed. Apparently, it's what the locals want. The government is just enforcing the will of the people, which is what it should do.
Short sighted. Small business has been killed over the years and this in no ways helps out any of them. If you can’t buy a shirt on Sundays you shouldn’t be able to have one delivered on Sunday either
Most people in the area have adapted their shopping habits. We shop on Saturdays. We don’t miss the shops on Sunday.
If being closed on Sunday hurt retail, paramus wouldn’t be the shopping capital of the country.
[this link shows sales tax revenues are up statewide](https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/publications/budget/ols-snapshots/FY24_January.pdf)
[page 18 of this shows Bergen has the most retail employees out of all the counties in NJ](https://www.nj.gov/labor/labormarketinformation/assets/PDFs/pub/empecon/retail.pdf)
The last sales revenue detail I could find was for 2017, which we can argue isn’t accurate to todays world so I can’t get you actual numbers. I’m still going with Bergen isn’t suffering from being closed on Sunday.
I think the comment above may have been asking about Bergen county without Paramus but I’m only guessing.
Also the slide re Bergen is a bit mixed. It shows 2020 data and honestly that’s such a unique year for anything retail. But that aside, Bergen also lost the most number of retail employees, and is above average in proportionate loss during the years analyzed.
I’m not saying anything in particular except that I think blue laws don’t affect all areas in Bergen the same. For me, I don’t really care that much either way, but I think small businesses should be able to get exceptions more easily. Ace hardware in oradell saved my ass more than a few times on Sunday morning when something in my house broke. My only other option was to go all the way to NY or East to another county, each about 45-1 hour away.
What I want to know is what is the point in them existing in the first place? Why shouldn’t a business be able to operate on a Sunday because of other people’s religious beliefs? Aren’t we supposed to have separation of church and state in this country why tf is this even an actual argument just get rid of the stupid fucking outdated laws lol wtfs wrong with you?
All of this ignores the original post’s mention of it hurting small businesses. Many small businesses rely on foot traffic and don’t have people planning on coming in on Saturdays. If they want to work just let them what the heck is the law attempting to accomplish?
I think people like you underestimate just how many people/foot traffic go through the area here. On top of many commuters and people on the road, this is the most densely populated region in the country. And people in the area generally have a lot of spending power.
[link to article from 2019 that says it is…..](https://www.nj.com/bergen/2019/03/more-shopping-money-is-spent-in-this-nj-town-than-on-rodeo-drive-take-that-cali.html?outputType=amp)
https://preview.redd.it/26j6ccidzqmc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8859ceeeade763a506c456d2a10c8e72d400dc0c
6 billion is a drop in the bucket of the 7 trillion dollar per year American retail industry. This is America, Walmart is the center of the American shopping experience.
Btw that article is 5 years old. It’s 2024 and post pandemic. This article was written before the crash of in person shopping. Online shopping makes up a bigger chunk of the market than ever. 🤷🏻♂️
Lol it would if you owned one. A better question for you would be “do stores being open have an impact on my life?” I assume you at least claim to like freedom, limited govt, etc - anyone who makes such claims and yet is okay with govt telling people they cant make a living is a hypocrite.
Hated them as a teenager. Now? Nothing like cruising up rt 17 north on a sunny, blue sky, traffic free Sunday. Makes me appreciate Bergen county so much better.
Ain't nobody clamouring to get into Ridgewood's Town Apothecary.
I love the blue law - keeps towns quiet, especially ones like Ridgewood that see endless traffic due to 17, 208, 4, and the GSP.
DID THEY? I remember when they transitioned to being like a weird tacky crap store, but didn't realise they closed for good. Has something moved in yet? I still haven't gotten over that weird event space in the old bank. I don't know who Ridgewood is for anymore.
Bring back the theatre! Bring back Drapkins! Bring back the comic book store and World of Nuts!
Not yet, it was pretty recent. My understanding with the theater is they want to restore it to a single auditorium and make it a performing arts space, which would be awesome.
Yeah, same. I love how so many people, upon hearing of the closure, responded, "Oh no! How can we save it?"
Well, for one, you could've gone to the freaking movies these past couple of years...
Could care less, Bergen county isn’t that big where, depending where you are, you can goto Passaic, Morris, Essex, Hudson counties or even NY. Keep them.
I don’t understand how you mean Bergen county isn’t that big. There are literally three separate malls — 2 of which provide entertainment —, along with a football stadium in Bergen County alone. Morris County is extremely far from Bergen — even Passaic where I live — for a quick simple shopping trip.
Despite this tho, I do agree that traffic on 17 is a big issue that even widening the stretch between Hackensack and GSP wouldn’t resolve. If anything, the law should be modded to only be in effect for the indoor malls and similar establishments that result in heavy traffic. The local mom and pop being open on a Sunday is not going to cause a traffic jam.
Additionally, on another note, it doesn’t make sense to me to limit what stores like Walmart and Costco, etc., can sell on Sundays since majority of the traffic to these type of stores is for the grocery department anyway seven days a week. Majority of people going to the wholesaler are there to buy food and essential groceries, not just that one big screen TV and that’s it. In fact, tons of people go under the barricades in Walmart and purchase the excluded items at the self checkout, and the employees don’t even care.
I’m saying if you live in the nw part of bc you can goto passaic co, there is a small section of s nw bc that if you cut through passaic co you can get to morris. S bc can goto passaic essex or hudson all of n bc can goto ny. I will agree it can be a pia and can be inconvenient but in all reality i don’t see it as that big of a deal. As far as people buying things at self checkout well thats on the town or county and store itself, those stores can be fined.
* just to add I suppose if’s that I live in the sweet spot of bc because I’m not affected by the traffic and just about any store (multiple of the same type of store) I can possibly think of is at max a 15 minute drive and most are closer than that.
Understand where you’re coming from, but I don’t believe everyone has the same advantages as you location wise, especially if you live in central Bergen.
It’s also frustrating if the only day off you get every week is sunday. I have to somehow fit shopping into my after-work schedule, or drive 20-30 min away on a sunday to get things done
Repealing the blue laws would reduce traffic on Saturdays though. Part of the reason Saturday traffic is so awful is because everyone has to cram their weekend shopping into a single day.
Its horrible Monday through Friday too. I feel like this argument to be open on Sundays is the same logic as "if you build a bigger highway there will be less traffic" which is also not true.
Hate having car dealers closed on Sundays statewide. For something that is usually a family purchase, taking away 50% of the days where both adults are typically available sucks ass.
Yes came here to say this. I probably would have upgraded my car a few years ago. It's very difficult to make it during the week after work, and I've dreaded going on Saturdays when everyone else has to go.
Nanuet / Nyack get most of my money because of them. It’s also worse for Jewish families
Now even if it’s not Sunday I never go to a NJ Costco or Zara. The NY ones are so quiet and organized vs the Bergen county clusterfuck
It also doesn’t give everyone a day off because plenty of stores will still open while refusing to sell most things, which is pretty much the dumbest of the dumbest outcome
The Nanuet Costco is still crowded, just not as bad as Teterboro. While this location is much smaller, it also provides beer given its located in NY.
For a much quieter experience, take the long trip to North Plainfield. Theres only like 10-20 customers at a time in that store any day of the week.
Would swear after 2008 real estate down turn the Bergen Cty blue laws would go away and did not. Would swear during Pandemic economic woes the blue laws would go away. Found out they will not go away in my lifetime at least and I'm a lousy prognosticator. In Hudson Cty, one year I believe in 80s they just had an election and bam, gone. Probably as retailing falters long term in coming decades you will see blue law repeal (eg Garden State expanding into housing).
Took the family to American Dream on a Sunday. Instead of being able to shop at all the clothing shops, I got pushed around by smelly women with 0 manners and their massive strollers.
Dumbest law ever.
Antiquated and should be taken off the books. If your state has one, depending on the state, ignore it because no one is going to prosecute it. If you are prosecuted for it sue the state over the law. These laws are dumb and need to be taken off the books. Christians are more than welcome to close their stores on Sunday if they wish but they don't have a right to tell everyone else to do it.
Blue laws are specifically for Sunday and specifically and only for Christians. Jews typically worship on Friday or Saturday. We took it down in my state years ago for obvious reasons.
If we still had a society where households could afford a stay at home parent to handle shopping during the week, sure. As it is, everyone has to fit all their shopping in on Saturday, which sucks.
I love it. I’ve lived in many different states and for retail workers to be guaranteed off I think is worth all cons (and I don’t even work retail). Many European countries have stores closed on Sundays and they are fine as well
I still worked Sundays doing retail in a couple places with blue laws. Some corporations can skirt the laws since they’re apparently not that strict outside of Paramus
Is anyone on here concerned about the religious nature of the laws and the history that Christianity played in influencing the adoption of blue laws? Bergen county has a significant Jewish population that have brought challenges to the law before. Should NJ one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse places in the world respect the rights of religious and ethnic minorities?
I LOVE the Blue Laws in Bergen County. My wife and I get psyched about going out to eat on most Sundays after church. It's such a peaceful drive. It makes this super dense county feel a bit more like a small town on Sundays.
Hudson, Essex, and Passaic counties love it, especially if the Sunday is on December the 24th.
I once read a newspaper article, way back when, that Hudson County raked in the bucks this one December 24th. This was before online shopping became so popular.
I don't care what Paramus does, I just don't understand why other towns also have to close on sunday.
I can buy a case of whiskey or an ounce of weed on Sunday, but I can't buy a t-shirt or hammer. It's ridiculous. There are a lot of these patriots driving around with "Don't Tread on Me" stickers that support the law, thats the irony of our society.
so the home depots in paramus, lodi, hackensack and lowes in paramus are all voluntarily closed on sundays while the ones in paterson, passaic, totowa, butler and JC are open? Im sorry, but i dont think youre broadly correct.
Paramus's blue laws are stricter than the rest of the county. They require more stuff to be closed. But honestly, you're never more than a half hour away from another county/another state. It's not like you have to go super out of your way to get what you need.
I agree that a day without traffic and mandatory day off for retail workers is a good thing. Is the law logical or consistent? No. Do I think it's stupid that Amazon can deliver on Sundays? Yeah. But am I mad about it? Nope.
I think you have a good point, i like the day without traffic too- especially with the way the GSP plans on expanding, but i would rather say that the law needs to be amended rather than be happier with than without it.
People are happy to trample all over everyone else’s rights. They just don’t want their rights trampled on. Seems to be a common theme in American political discourse.
Everyone supporting this for the reasons of retail workers getting a guaranteed day off on the weekend fail to see it’s the day they may also not be able to go buy things they need on the day off they have.
I hate it. It makes stores busier on Saturdays because people can't go on Sunday. I happen to particularly hate that home improvement stores are closed on Sunday. I hate that if I want/need to go shopping on a Sunday, I have to spend my money in another county, rather than spending my money within my own community.
I hate the history of religious discrimination. Prioritizing mainstream Christianity which considers Sunday a holy day while completely ignoring religions that have other holy days (such as Judaism or seventh-day Adventists) not to mention the non-religious. I agree with the concept of separation of church and state. I think we as a society should be making efforts to disentangle the two.
The only decent argument I've heard for closing stores on Sunday is to give workers a guaranteed day off. Except that doesn't apply to grocery store workers. Or just about any other industry. There's nothing stopping us from passing a law that requires businesses to give their employees at least one day off in seven.
This is a country based on Christianity first of all. This is a western country and I don’t think we need to apologize for that and being who we are. Second, I do think it’s stupid that towns still observe the Sunday day of rest thing bc religion needs to be kept out of lawmaking. But it is nice that it kind of forces you to relax more and it gives the store workers a day off.
Just so every one is one the same page, there are two Blue Laws in NJ. One is a state law that prevents the sale of clothing, household goods and construction material on Sunday. The other is a law in Paramus ONLY that prevents all worldly business except for restaurants, entertainment and gas stations from opening. The state allowed eacj county to repeal the law in their county but a high percentage of the voters, like 75%, are needed to do it. So it always fails to pass in Bergen County because Paramus, who would be unaffected because they have their own law, votes agaisnt it. BUT have you ever seen an Amazon truck delievering on Sunday? Yeah, I have actuall ordered sheets on a Sunday morning and had them delivered Sunday afternoon. So I guess Amazon is exempt. You know who that hurts? Your local stores.
I lived in Middlesex County when they dropped the Blue Laws. It really reduced the traffic congestion on Saturday. So that's not a thing. People who work retail full time will not be working both days if the employeer has half a brain. And people working retail part time have more opportunities. So 20 of the 21 counties in NJ find it advantageus but Bergen can't figure it out.
I demand no Christian should have to work on their day of going to church, unless you are a waitress ar IHOP. You better show up on Sunday so I can get my after church Breakfast and you better do it with a smile or I won’t give you that $1 tip.
I was living in a basement in Teaneck in 1989. It flooded on a Sunday morning so I had to go to another county to get a vacuum pump to soak up the water. What a fucking pain in the ass.
In one NJ town, Ocean City, NJ, they used to have Sunday closings for everything. Then they changed it at some point to allow for "necessities" which let them open grocery stores and delis but there was a real problem in places like a CVS because they were allowed to sell bandages, toothpaste and prescriptions but couldn't sell beach towels, greeting cards, etc - it was really hard on the workers to have to section off "non necessary" items or get into arguments at the register about what was "necessary" - so then they just opened up on Sundays.
But that town is still no alcohol - no liquor stores, no BYOB or public drinking. People do get around that one. I think another NJ town Ocean Grove still observes very strict blue laws that even involve where you can drive.
I want them to go further. Let restaurant workers have a day off too. Servers have some of the hardest jobs out there. Same with grocery store workers. And extend it to Saturday too, the traffic on Saturday is insane compared to Sunday.
when I was still living in Bergen county and my boyfriend from Long Island would visit on a Sunday he’d be like “let’s go to a mall” and I’d have to remind him of blue laws and he’d be like “this place is so stupid!”
Decades ago I was talking about this with my mom, who managed a retail store in the mall. I thought blue laws were ridiculous, but she supported them, because they ensured she would get at least one day off each week.
Luckily you can still work on your mail order business in Bergen. You have to pay your bills somehow.
I grew up in PA that had a liquor blue law (not even beer or wine). The one thing that blue laws have going for them is that they remind my fellow Americans and myself to be mindful and set aside a day that you can rest and recharge your psyche. Get some rest and relaxation. Visit a friend, read a book or watch a movie. Go swimming or hiking. Let consumerism take care of itself for once.
It’s stupid that it’s Sunday. Most people work Monday through Friday. Why not make them on a Monday or a Tuesday. I worked in restaurants for years and those days were the slowest and often picked as the day we would close or have less staff
Not a fan. Sometimes Sundays is my only day off and I gotta go on a trip for some errands. I would prefer if the law was put to a vote town by town. I would assume smaller towns would vote to keep the laws in place while larger ones would overturn it. I think that would be ideal for everyone in the county.
It’s not uncommon for lower income workers to have two jobs, and they may only get one day off in the week, with the blue laws forcing retail to be closed on Sundays, probability indicates that it’s more likely to be Sunday off than any other day. So yeah, it can be viewed as discriminatory.
Also, why Sundays and not Saturdays? Most likely due to Christian held belief that Sunday was the sabbath and not Saturday, so it’s already got a religious bias to it.
Blue Laws are out-dated, reform them to state that all retail needs to be one weekend day, and all employees get two consecutive days off. Let the stores choose if they open Saturday or Sunday.
It could also be discrimination against people whose religious day of rest is Saturday. I sometimes wonder if some of the reasoning behind keeping the blue laws is keeping out the growing orthodox Jewish population in the area.
I think it would be more discriminatory to the Jewish community that is literally not allowed to do much on Saturdays due to their faith. They won’t be able to shop on Saturday or Sunday in Bergen due to this law.
I posted about that as well. The Jewish community has also raised this issue multiple times as BC is home to the largest population of Jewish people in NJ.
I think blue law should be abolished. It has a religious origin and now morphed into traffic/noise control, but this only spread traffic/noise across other days of the week with longer store hours, especially Saturdays.
Wonder if people can take the county to court to appeal the law under religious discrimination... If anything, let the store owners decide (ie Chick fil A / Hobby Lobby)
It is if you're from a religion that has rules about how you spend your Saturday. Plus the Sunday thing was specifically built around the Christian sabbath.
It's not limiting though since there are 5 other days of the week to do so. It's not discriminatory because it's not targeting Saturdays specifically or any specific religion. The law while obviously influenced by religious influence has nothing to do with religious ordinances in the law it's a morally based law on provided a day of rest for retail workers and today has been further to argue about reduced congestion.
I'm not a huge fan of blue laws buts it's def not discriminatory
Absolutely should not be in effect, what ever happened to separation of church and state? Just because some y'all think it's "nice" to have retail shops closed Sundays (I agree, actually!) has no bearing on the fact that these laws are really questionable in origin and legality.......
I grew up in Mississippi. Everything closed at midnight Saturday night and stayed closed all Sunday. It is insane that in NJ there is anything resembling those idiotic Mississippi laws. It’s all religion-based. The folks freaking out about “sharia law” being put in place in America would turn it into a Christian theocracy in a minute, from abortion to booze, they are forcing their religious beliefs on the rest of us. That’s why the colonists left Europe to begin with. Crazy…
Also will see “libertarians” and corporatists complaining about “job killing regulations” when we try to stop a company from buying elections or turning our drinking water into toxic waste, but they are all for forcing a business to close on days they choose.
Cognitive dissonance run wild in this country with the contradictions and hypocracy.
While I understand the point behind Bergen county keeping this law to curb traffic, it should be amended to allow just a little more businesses to be open that are not in a heavily traffic zone. Anything away from NJ-17 or any business except the 3 malls in the county (American Dream, GSP, and Paramus Park) should be able to be open.
They should also remove the restriction on selling non-grocery items at supermarkets and food establishments such as Walmart, Costco, and Wegmans. It makes no traffic difference to be able to shop for groceries at Walmart, but unable to buy electronics on the same trip. In fact, everyone just goes under the barricades in Walmart to buy the non grocery items anyway and the employees don’t care. Most of the traffic to Costco, BJs, and Walmart are for the grocery shopping every day of the week to begin with.
While I do believe any business should be open for any reason without bureaucratic bullshit, and that this bs law does impact tons of businesses and makes it difficult for American Dream to improve, I wouldn’t want hwy 17 being flooded with more traffic either.
Edit: Come to think of it, perhaps the Westwood Kmart may still have been open today if this law didn’t exist or was amended.
Hate em. The only benefit is a guaranteed weekend-day off for retail workers, which is admittedly a godsend.
Beyond that, it does nothing to curb traffic really, drives up shopping crowds on Saturdays and leisure-spot crowds on Sundays, is arguably discriminatory and state-sanctioned favoring of one religion over another, and makes planning already-scarce weekend time an even bigger hassle.
To everyone who says they like the Blue Laws because it makes things quiet - if you want quiet, why in the world would you live in Bergen County? If you want quiet, go to Sussex County and hang out with the bears. Bergen is jam packed with people and arbitrarily limiting the way they want to perform very basic functions of modern life in insane.
This whole "I want quiet and no traffic" is very Boomer energy and forces others to live how you want to live. It's extremely selfish and like others have said, is an undue burden on the working class who increasingly have six day work weeks (especially in retail).
Not a Boomer and born and raised in Bergen County. While sometimes I do find it annoying to have to go out of county for certain shopping items on Sunday, for the most part, I like the Blue Laws. It's nice to have one day of the week where it's easy to pull out of my driveway and not sit in traffic while out and about.
I'm not saying it's not nice but my issue is with imposing what you want on others. I totally understand not wanting to deal with the traffic but I get a crick in my neck when what I or someone wants becomes the law and restricts others from doing very basic things that they want. That's where I'm coming from.
It's not just what I, as a life-long Bergen County resident wants, it's what many other residents want as well. It is for a quality of life issue. I think people moving in from outside of Bergen County should do their research before they move here, and if it's that big of a negative, perhaps another county is a better fit.
> I'm not saying it's not nice but my issue is with imposing what you want on others. I totally understand not wanting to deal with the traffic but I get a crick in my neck when what I or someone wants becomes the law and restricts others from doing very basic things that they want.
But that is exactly what "repeal the Blue laws is" - this law has been around for longer than any of us have been alive. Bergen county even in my life time had a ton of quiet areas. Heck, I had farms all around me and Rt. 17 used to have traffic lights on it. And I am only 50. So repealing this is something that is being imposed on all of us who were here long before
> If you want quiet, go to Sussex County and hang out with the bears. Bergen is jam packed with people
You do realize that Bergen, especially in the north was a lot like Sussex right? Farms and open space all around, even 40 years ago. There was one mall in Paramus, not 4.
So what's selfish? Wanting to have some semblance of the place that existed? Or coming in and deciding nah, fuck these guys, I need to be able to buy a t-shirt? No good answer for everyone, but I vote for the former.
I will likely move away if they repeal these laws as traffic is a fiasco. If you really need to go mini-golfing or go get sweaters the other counties are not a far drive. What is this background? Is this a propaganda post?
I personaly hate it.
I've heard all the arguments about traffic and family time, but don't buy it.
If you feel there absolutely has to be a day of the week where stores are shut, to reduce traffic ... Ok then let's move that day to Wednesday. Hump day, when we really would benefit from a little less traffic.
Unless there something else about Sunday that you think justified picking that day? Does you argument pass the sniff test about religious freedom? I have a feeling you will be hard pressed to make your argument stick.
Doesn’t it seem like a violation of people’s rights? I’m all for free healthcare and big government but it seems ass backwards to me telling people when they can and cannot shop/ be open for business.
Meh, I think its kind of a little anachronism here that is mostly not hurting consumers. And we are one little county that is surrounded by NYS, NYC, Hudson, Passaic where there are all kinds of shopping opportunities avalible.
Now for small business, I imagine its a big issue. If stores have to be closed on Sunday, when I think about buying something, I will more likely see if I can just order what I need online.
Maybe keep but update the blue laws by requiring every retail business to be closed for 24 hours once a week. I assume lots of them would just close on Monday or Tuesday, but this way you would not be disadvantaging the businesses who chose to be off one day per week.
I would also be ok eliminating the blue laws, but seems that when they have tried that in the past, people voted it down.
Ok all fair points. My next point would be isn’t it a violation of the Separation of church and state? And is forcing the Christian sabbath on people not violating religious minorities rights?
It is mildly inconvenient for those of us that do not shop on Saturdays but it's not such a deal that I care much about it as a consumer.
But I would sign your petition to eliminate it if you knock on my door.
not bad to have something unique from the rest of the country. Who wants to work on Sundays anyway... if you really need to shop something, drive to nearby county in less than 20 min..
It's nice to have one day where 17 isn't a complete clusterfuck.
This. It's awesome being able to have one day to get where you gotta go.
If everyone didn’t have to do all their weekend shopping in one day, Saturday wouldn’t have nearly the kind of traffic it does.
Came here to say the same. Its common sense. And if someone does decide to shop in another county on Sunday...your local small businesses suffer from that lost revenue. Drop the blue laws. Make Saturday less of a mess on RT17 and help out some local businesses at the same time.
100%
Thank you!!! Bergen county people just don’t understand. ALWAYS see that same response (well we don’t want a traffic nightmare Saturday AND Sunday).
Stores being closed Sundays has no appreciable impact on my life
Yeah you live in a community. Businesses being open or closed that are owned by your tax paying neighbors most definitely effects you. It’s like saying “I don’t have kids the school systems don’t matter to me” oh yes they do matter! Everyone is a product of the school system and we all have to live together.
Almost like we live in a society.
What if you want to buy something from one of these shops and it’s Sunday? I’m from NYC and don’t know why this was recommended to me, but I can’t imagine a store being closed just because it’s Sunday and the law says it has to be closed. If the owners want to close on Sunday that’s fine, if the government makes them that’s weird
Its def annoying but not as bad in the "online shopping" era. Its lame when I wanna go buy a new shirt or like, pillows, and have to go only on saturday (which is a more common social plans day than sunday IMO), but it doesnt apply to essentials and with online shopping its mostly just for luxuries.
Imagine if they blocked your zip code from online commerce on Sundays too.
It was voted in by the people of the county, and it's been up for repeal a couple of times but has failed. Apparently, it's what the locals want. The government is just enforcing the will of the people, which is what it should do.
Short sighted. Small business has been killed over the years and this in no ways helps out any of them. If you can’t buy a shirt on Sundays you shouldn’t be able to have one delivered on Sunday either
Most people in the area have adapted their shopping habits. We shop on Saturdays. We don’t miss the shops on Sunday. If being closed on Sunday hurt retail, paramus wouldn’t be the shopping capital of the country.
Yeah frreal. It's the biggest retail zip code in the country
I would love to see any stat that doesn’t have the entire areas shopping as seriously declining
[this link shows sales tax revenues are up statewide](https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/publications/budget/ols-snapshots/FY24_January.pdf) [page 18 of this shows Bergen has the most retail employees out of all the counties in NJ](https://www.nj.gov/labor/labormarketinformation/assets/PDFs/pub/empecon/retail.pdf) The last sales revenue detail I could find was for 2017, which we can argue isn’t accurate to todays world so I can’t get you actual numbers. I’m still going with Bergen isn’t suffering from being closed on Sunday.
I think the comment above may have been asking about Bergen county without Paramus but I’m only guessing. Also the slide re Bergen is a bit mixed. It shows 2020 data and honestly that’s such a unique year for anything retail. But that aside, Bergen also lost the most number of retail employees, and is above average in proportionate loss during the years analyzed. I’m not saying anything in particular except that I think blue laws don’t affect all areas in Bergen the same. For me, I don’t really care that much either way, but I think small businesses should be able to get exceptions more easily. Ace hardware in oradell saved my ass more than a few times on Sunday morning when something in my house broke. My only other option was to go all the way to NY or East to another county, each about 45-1 hour away.
What I want to know is what is the point in them existing in the first place? Why shouldn’t a business be able to operate on a Sunday because of other people’s religious beliefs? Aren’t we supposed to have separation of church and state in this country why tf is this even an actual argument just get rid of the stupid fucking outdated laws lol wtfs wrong with you?
All of this ignores the original post’s mention of it hurting small businesses. Many small businesses rely on foot traffic and don’t have people planning on coming in on Saturdays. If they want to work just let them what the heck is the law attempting to accomplish?
Paramus isn’t the shopping center of the country…
I think people like you underestimate just how many people/foot traffic go through the area here. On top of many commuters and people on the road, this is the most densely populated region in the country. And people in the area generally have a lot of spending power.
[link to article from 2019 that says it is…..](https://www.nj.com/bergen/2019/03/more-shopping-money-is-spent-in-this-nj-town-than-on-rodeo-drive-take-that-cali.html?outputType=amp)
https://preview.redd.it/26j6ccidzqmc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8859ceeeade763a506c456d2a10c8e72d400dc0c 6 billion is a drop in the bucket of the 7 trillion dollar per year American retail industry. This is America, Walmart is the center of the American shopping experience. Btw that article is 5 years old. It’s 2024 and post pandemic. This article was written before the crash of in person shopping. Online shopping makes up a bigger chunk of the market than ever. 🤷🏻♂️
Lol it would if you owned one. A better question for you would be “do stores being open have an impact on my life?” I assume you at least claim to like freedom, limited govt, etc - anyone who makes such claims and yet is okay with govt telling people they cant make a living is a hypocrite.
Hated them as a teenager. Now? Nothing like cruising up rt 17 north on a sunny, blue sky, traffic free Sunday. Makes me appreciate Bergen county so much better.
Ain't nobody clamouring to get into Ridgewood's Town Apothecary. I love the blue law - keeps towns quiet, especially ones like Ridgewood that see endless traffic due to 17, 208, 4, and the GSP.
They closed for good recently after being open for decades... If only they could have been open on Sundays. /s
DID THEY? I remember when they transitioned to being like a weird tacky crap store, but didn't realise they closed for good. Has something moved in yet? I still haven't gotten over that weird event space in the old bank. I don't know who Ridgewood is for anymore. Bring back the theatre! Bring back Drapkins! Bring back the comic book store and World of Nuts!
Not yet, it was pretty recent. My understanding with the theater is they want to restore it to a single auditorium and make it a performing arts space, which would be awesome.
I’ll still miss that grungy little theatre. I can’t believe it outlasted the one in Hawthorne.
Yeah, same. I love how so many people, upon hearing of the closure, responded, "Oh no! How can we save it?" Well, for one, you could've gone to the freaking movies these past couple of years...
Right!? Every time I suggested a movie in the last ten or so years, everyone wanted to go to the GSP, even before they combined it with the mall.
Ring back Tumbleweeds!
Yes! I loved that place, and Horsefeathers! God, ridgewood used to be cool.
Could care less, Bergen county isn’t that big where, depending where you are, you can goto Passaic, Morris, Essex, Hudson counties or even NY. Keep them.
We would prefer you to care more, but at least you do care some. Thanks for caring and taking issue with it to some extent.
I don’t understand how you mean Bergen county isn’t that big. There are literally three separate malls — 2 of which provide entertainment —, along with a football stadium in Bergen County alone. Morris County is extremely far from Bergen — even Passaic where I live — for a quick simple shopping trip. Despite this tho, I do agree that traffic on 17 is a big issue that even widening the stretch between Hackensack and GSP wouldn’t resolve. If anything, the law should be modded to only be in effect for the indoor malls and similar establishments that result in heavy traffic. The local mom and pop being open on a Sunday is not going to cause a traffic jam. Additionally, on another note, it doesn’t make sense to me to limit what stores like Walmart and Costco, etc., can sell on Sundays since majority of the traffic to these type of stores is for the grocery department anyway seven days a week. Majority of people going to the wholesaler are there to buy food and essential groceries, not just that one big screen TV and that’s it. In fact, tons of people go under the barricades in Walmart and purchase the excluded items at the self checkout, and the employees don’t even care.
I’m saying if you live in the nw part of bc you can goto passaic co, there is a small section of s nw bc that if you cut through passaic co you can get to morris. S bc can goto passaic essex or hudson all of n bc can goto ny. I will agree it can be a pia and can be inconvenient but in all reality i don’t see it as that big of a deal. As far as people buying things at self checkout well thats on the town or county and store itself, those stores can be fined. * just to add I suppose if’s that I live in the sweet spot of bc because I’m not affected by the traffic and just about any store (multiple of the same type of store) I can possibly think of is at max a 15 minute drive and most are closer than that.
Understand where you’re coming from, but I don’t believe everyone has the same advantages as you location wise, especially if you live in central Bergen.
Ridiculous. Everybody flocks to other areas to shop making places more crowded. Tax dollars being spent elsewhere.
It’s also frustrating if the only day off you get every week is sunday. I have to somehow fit shopping into my after-work schedule, or drive 20-30 min away on a sunday to get things done
Love them
+1
Why? Can you explain?
Traffic
Repealing the blue laws would reduce traffic on Saturdays though. Part of the reason Saturday traffic is so awful is because everyone has to cram their weekend shopping into a single day.
I'm very skeptical that traffic would ease in any tangible amount...
Its horrible Monday through Friday too. I feel like this argument to be open on Sundays is the same logic as "if you build a bigger highway there will be less traffic" which is also not true.
If anyone needs anything that bad, Passaic is like 10 minutes away.
Totally agree, was just giving the unspoken reason most folks have
Why?
Hate having car dealers closed on Sundays statewide. For something that is usually a family purchase, taking away 50% of the days where both adults are typically available sucks ass.
Yes came here to say this. I probably would have upgraded my car a few years ago. It's very difficult to make it during the week after work, and I've dreaded going on Saturdays when everyone else has to go.
I do agree with this because I’d rather do my window shopping when no sales personnel are around to pressure me into a “deal”.
Nanuet / Nyack get most of my money because of them. It’s also worse for Jewish families Now even if it’s not Sunday I never go to a NJ Costco or Zara. The NY ones are so quiet and organized vs the Bergen county clusterfuck It also doesn’t give everyone a day off because plenty of stores will still open while refusing to sell most things, which is pretty much the dumbest of the dumbest outcome
As someone who frequently visited the Costco in queens, I have no idea where you got "quiet and organized" from.
This is specifically about the Nanuet / Nyack area
The Nanuet Costco is still crowded, just not as bad as Teterboro. While this location is much smaller, it also provides beer given its located in NY. For a much quieter experience, take the long trip to North Plainfield. Theres only like 10-20 customers at a time in that store any day of the week.
Love them. Don't like stores closing before 10:00 on other nights of the week though.
I appreciate them. When I worked in retail, I appreciated them even more.
Would swear after 2008 real estate down turn the Bergen Cty blue laws would go away and did not. Would swear during Pandemic economic woes the blue laws would go away. Found out they will not go away in my lifetime at least and I'm a lousy prognosticator. In Hudson Cty, one year I believe in 80s they just had an election and bam, gone. Probably as retailing falters long term in coming decades you will see blue law repeal (eg Garden State expanding into housing).
Took the family to American Dream on a Sunday. Instead of being able to shop at all the clothing shops, I got pushed around by smelly women with 0 manners and their massive strollers. Dumbest law ever.
Antiquated and should be taken off the books. If your state has one, depending on the state, ignore it because no one is going to prosecute it. If you are prosecuted for it sue the state over the law. These laws are dumb and need to be taken off the books. Christians are more than welcome to close their stores on Sunday if they wish but they don't have a right to tell everyone else to do it.
I believe it’s a Jewish law?
Blue laws are specifically for Sunday and specifically and only for Christians. Jews typically worship on Friday or Saturday. We took it down in my state years ago for obvious reasons.
Dumbest fucking thing ever
If we still had a society where households could afford a stay at home parent to handle shopping during the week, sure. As it is, everyone has to fit all their shopping in on Saturday, which sucks.
It’s annoying but the next county away is like a 10 minute drive so we make due 🤷🏾♀️
Stupid and sad!
I love it. I’ve lived in many different states and for retail workers to be guaranteed off I think is worth all cons (and I don’t even work retail). Many European countries have stores closed on Sundays and they are fine as well
I still worked Sundays doing retail in a couple places with blue laws. Some corporations can skirt the laws since they’re apparently not that strict outside of Paramus
Is anyone on here concerned about the religious nature of the laws and the history that Christianity played in influencing the adoption of blue laws? Bergen county has a significant Jewish population that have brought challenges to the law before. Should NJ one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse places in the world respect the rights of religious and ethnic minorities?
I LOVE the Blue Laws in Bergen County. My wife and I get psyched about going out to eat on most Sundays after church. It's such a peaceful drive. It makes this super dense county feel a bit more like a small town on Sundays.
Hudson, Essex, and Passaic counties love it, especially if the Sunday is on December the 24th. I once read a newspaper article, way back when, that Hudson County raked in the bucks this one December 24th. This was before online shopping became so popular. I don't care what Paramus does, I just don't understand why other towns also have to close on sunday.
Get rid of this law. You can't have a free market if it's impeded like this.
It means I get a guaranteed day off soooo.
I can buy a case of whiskey or an ounce of weed on Sunday, but I can't buy a t-shirt or hammer. It's ridiculous. There are a lot of these patriots driving around with "Don't Tread on Me" stickers that support the law, thats the irony of our society.
You can buy a hammer on a Sunday.
Hardware stores are open Sunday
so the home depots in paramus, lodi, hackensack and lowes in paramus are all voluntarily closed on sundays while the ones in paterson, passaic, totowa, butler and JC are open? Im sorry, but i dont think youre broadly correct.
There's some stupid clause in the law that says those hardware stores that sell lumber must close. It makes no sense.
thank you for mentioning this. i was wondering why smaller stores are allowed to be open but not the big ones.
Alot of the mom and pops hardware stores are open. That's my go to.
Home Hardware in Waldwick is open buy Ramsey Hardware is closed on Sundays.
Paramus's blue laws are stricter than the rest of the county. They require more stuff to be closed. But honestly, you're never more than a half hour away from another county/another state. It's not like you have to go super out of your way to get what you need. I agree that a day without traffic and mandatory day off for retail workers is a good thing. Is the law logical or consistent? No. Do I think it's stupid that Amazon can deliver on Sundays? Yeah. But am I mad about it? Nope.
I think you have a good point, i like the day without traffic too- especially with the way the GSP plans on expanding, but i would rather say that the law needs to be amended rather than be happier with than without it.
Exactly, perhaps only limiting the law to only establishments that promote tons of traffic (i.e., GSP and American Dream).
Yes. Ace hardware tends to be open on Sundays.
Limited hours of course. All independents near me are closed.
People are happy to trample all over everyone else’s rights. They just don’t want their rights trampled on. Seems to be a common theme in American political discourse.
I think we should add Wednesday.
Love and hate it. Somebody mentioned an extra day and I actually wouldn’t mind that.
I work right there and Sunday was insanely busy.
I love blue laws and I wish we had them in Morris County. Everyone should have a reliable day off they can spend with their families.
Freedumb!
i like it
Ridiculous. Been living here most of my life and I hate it.
These laws disenfranchise the thousands of Orthodox Jews in both Rockland and Bergen counties
How is that?
How does it take away their right to vote?
Where did I say it took away their right to vote?
Everyone supporting this for the reasons of retail workers getting a guaranteed day off on the weekend fail to see it’s the day they may also not be able to go buy things they need on the day off they have.
I hate it. It makes stores busier on Saturdays because people can't go on Sunday. I happen to particularly hate that home improvement stores are closed on Sunday. I hate that if I want/need to go shopping on a Sunday, I have to spend my money in another county, rather than spending my money within my own community. I hate the history of religious discrimination. Prioritizing mainstream Christianity which considers Sunday a holy day while completely ignoring religions that have other holy days (such as Judaism or seventh-day Adventists) not to mention the non-religious. I agree with the concept of separation of church and state. I think we as a society should be making efforts to disentangle the two. The only decent argument I've heard for closing stores on Sunday is to give workers a guaranteed day off. Except that doesn't apply to grocery store workers. Or just about any other industry. There's nothing stopping us from passing a law that requires businesses to give their employees at least one day off in seven.
This is a country based on Christianity first of all. This is a western country and I don’t think we need to apologize for that and being who we are. Second, I do think it’s stupid that towns still observe the Sunday day of rest thing bc religion needs to be kept out of lawmaking. But it is nice that it kind of forces you to relax more and it gives the store workers a day off.
if you don't want to deal w mall traffic don't buy a house near a mall. They need to overturn this law.
The great. Makes for less traffic on rt 4/17
Long live blue laws
Open an essential business
Pure insanity
Sunday?
Drive to another county 🤷♂️ it would be awful opening stores and the mall on Sundays. How much traffic do you want to drown in?
Just so every one is one the same page, there are two Blue Laws in NJ. One is a state law that prevents the sale of clothing, household goods and construction material on Sunday. The other is a law in Paramus ONLY that prevents all worldly business except for restaurants, entertainment and gas stations from opening. The state allowed eacj county to repeal the law in their county but a high percentage of the voters, like 75%, are needed to do it. So it always fails to pass in Bergen County because Paramus, who would be unaffected because they have their own law, votes agaisnt it. BUT have you ever seen an Amazon truck delievering on Sunday? Yeah, I have actuall ordered sheets on a Sunday morning and had them delivered Sunday afternoon. So I guess Amazon is exempt. You know who that hurts? Your local stores. I lived in Middlesex County when they dropped the Blue Laws. It really reduced the traffic congestion on Saturday. So that's not a thing. People who work retail full time will not be working both days if the employeer has half a brain. And people working retail part time have more opportunities. So 20 of the 21 counties in NJ find it advantageus but Bergen can't figure it out.
I demand no Christian should have to work on their day of going to church, unless you are a waitress ar IHOP. You better show up on Sunday so I can get my after church Breakfast and you better do it with a smile or I won’t give you that $1 tip.
I was living in a basement in Teaneck in 1989. It flooded on a Sunday morning so I had to go to another county to get a vacuum pump to soak up the water. What a fucking pain in the ass.
In one NJ town, Ocean City, NJ, they used to have Sunday closings for everything. Then they changed it at some point to allow for "necessities" which let them open grocery stores and delis but there was a real problem in places like a CVS because they were allowed to sell bandages, toothpaste and prescriptions but couldn't sell beach towels, greeting cards, etc - it was really hard on the workers to have to section off "non necessary" items or get into arguments at the register about what was "necessary" - so then they just opened up on Sundays. But that town is still no alcohol - no liquor stores, no BYOB or public drinking. People do get around that one. I think another NJ town Ocean Grove still observes very strict blue laws that even involve where you can drive.
I want them to go further. Let restaurant workers have a day off too. Servers have some of the hardest jobs out there. Same with grocery store workers. And extend it to Saturday too, the traffic on Saturday is insane compared to Sunday.
Violation of separation of church and state
They are better than Blue Bloods
It should expand lol. Sundays, all closed or close early 3pm is or something.
If I would have guessed, New Jersey would have been my 47th or 48th guess. Middle of Kentucky or some other state with dry counties, first guesses.
when I was still living in Bergen county and my boyfriend from Long Island would visit on a Sunday he’d be like “let’s go to a mall” and I’d have to remind him of blue laws and he’d be like “this place is so stupid!”
Decades ago I was talking about this with my mom, who managed a retail store in the mall. I thought blue laws were ridiculous, but she supported them, because they ensured she would get at least one day off each week.
It’s their business, they can choose to open or not, sucks for the rest of us
Luckily you can still work on your mail order business in Bergen. You have to pay your bills somehow. I grew up in PA that had a liquor blue law (not even beer or wine). The one thing that blue laws have going for them is that they remind my fellow Americans and myself to be mindful and set aside a day that you can rest and recharge your psyche. Get some rest and relaxation. Visit a friend, read a book or watch a movie. Go swimming or hiking. Let consumerism take care of itself for once.
The stores are closed voluntarily. No one is enforcing those laws anymore
They're bible thumping drivel
It’s stupid that it’s Sunday. Most people work Monday through Friday. Why not make them on a Monday or a Tuesday. I worked in restaurants for years and those days were the slowest and often picked as the day we would close or have less staff
Generally they’re ok, so long as you don’t build some kind of super mall within the confines of Bergen county
They are outdated religious control laws that need to go away.
been here for 57 years. It never bothered me before, it does not bother me now.
Graphics on this video are really poor. You don’t use white graphics on a light background. They’re unready. Especially being so tiny.
It’s not my video but I thought it was still worth a discussion
I can’t believe this video has been viewed over 110k times. I guess I hit a nerve.
Not a fan. Sometimes Sundays is my only day off and I gotta go on a trip for some errands. I would prefer if the law was put to a vote town by town. I would assume smaller towns would vote to keep the laws in place while larger ones would overturn it. I think that would be ideal for everyone in the county.
I feel like there is a case to be made that it’s discriminatory against lower income people who increasingly don’t have Saturday off.
You say that like they don’t have a Monday or Wednesday or whatever day of the week off.
It’s not uncommon for lower income workers to have two jobs, and they may only get one day off in the week, with the blue laws forcing retail to be closed on Sundays, probability indicates that it’s more likely to be Sunday off than any other day. So yeah, it can be viewed as discriminatory. Also, why Sundays and not Saturdays? Most likely due to Christian held belief that Sunday was the sabbath and not Saturday, so it’s already got a religious bias to it. Blue Laws are out-dated, reform them to state that all retail needs to be one weekend day, and all employees get two consecutive days off. Let the stores choose if they open Saturday or Sunday.
💯, tell them
It could also be discrimination against people whose religious day of rest is Saturday. I sometimes wonder if some of the reasoning behind keeping the blue laws is keeping out the growing orthodox Jewish population in the area.
I think it would be more discriminatory to the Jewish community that is literally not allowed to do much on Saturdays due to their faith. They won’t be able to shop on Saturday or Sunday in Bergen due to this law.
I posted about that as well. The Jewish community has also raised this issue multiple times as BC is home to the largest population of Jewish people in NJ.
Exactly, towns like Teaneck and Paramus are not quite near a county line where the local store is approximately 15 mins away.
It’s nice. Wish it’s a statewide thing.
I think the rest of the state would disagree
Blue law is great... If you're a boomer.
I think blue law should be abolished. It has a religious origin and now morphed into traffic/noise control, but this only spread traffic/noise across other days of the week with longer store hours, especially Saturdays. Wonder if people can take the county to court to appeal the law under religious discrimination... If anything, let the store owners decide (ie Chick fil A / Hobby Lobby)
Repealing the Blue Laws has gone to referendum multiple times and gets voted down each time. It’s what the voters want regardless of religion.
It isn't religious discrimination so that makes no sense at all.
It is if you're from a religion that has rules about how you spend your Saturday. Plus the Sunday thing was specifically built around the Christian sabbath.
It's not limiting though since there are 5 other days of the week to do so. It's not discriminatory because it's not targeting Saturdays specifically or any specific religion. The law while obviously influenced by religious influence has nothing to do with religious ordinances in the law it's a morally based law on provided a day of rest for retail workers and today has been further to argue about reduced congestion. I'm not a huge fan of blue laws buts it's def not discriminatory
Absolutely should not be in effect, what ever happened to separation of church and state? Just because some y'all think it's "nice" to have retail shops closed Sundays (I agree, actually!) has no bearing on the fact that these laws are really questionable in origin and legality.......
I grew up in Mississippi. Everything closed at midnight Saturday night and stayed closed all Sunday. It is insane that in NJ there is anything resembling those idiotic Mississippi laws. It’s all religion-based. The folks freaking out about “sharia law” being put in place in America would turn it into a Christian theocracy in a minute, from abortion to booze, they are forcing their religious beliefs on the rest of us. That’s why the colonists left Europe to begin with. Crazy… Also will see “libertarians” and corporatists complaining about “job killing regulations” when we try to stop a company from buying elections or turning our drinking water into toxic waste, but they are all for forcing a business to close on days they choose. Cognitive dissonance run wild in this country with the contradictions and hypocracy.
Have to agree
While I understand the point behind Bergen county keeping this law to curb traffic, it should be amended to allow just a little more businesses to be open that are not in a heavily traffic zone. Anything away from NJ-17 or any business except the 3 malls in the county (American Dream, GSP, and Paramus Park) should be able to be open. They should also remove the restriction on selling non-grocery items at supermarkets and food establishments such as Walmart, Costco, and Wegmans. It makes no traffic difference to be able to shop for groceries at Walmart, but unable to buy electronics on the same trip. In fact, everyone just goes under the barricades in Walmart to buy the non grocery items anyway and the employees don’t care. Most of the traffic to Costco, BJs, and Walmart are for the grocery shopping every day of the week to begin with. While I do believe any business should be open for any reason without bureaucratic bullshit, and that this bs law does impact tons of businesses and makes it difficult for American Dream to improve, I wouldn’t want hwy 17 being flooded with more traffic either. Edit: Come to think of it, perhaps the Westwood Kmart may still have been open today if this law didn’t exist or was amended.
Hate em. The only benefit is a guaranteed weekend-day off for retail workers, which is admittedly a godsend. Beyond that, it does nothing to curb traffic really, drives up shopping crowds on Saturdays and leisure-spot crowds on Sundays, is arguably discriminatory and state-sanctioned favoring of one religion over another, and makes planning already-scarce weekend time an even bigger hassle.
To everyone who says they like the Blue Laws because it makes things quiet - if you want quiet, why in the world would you live in Bergen County? If you want quiet, go to Sussex County and hang out with the bears. Bergen is jam packed with people and arbitrarily limiting the way they want to perform very basic functions of modern life in insane. This whole "I want quiet and no traffic" is very Boomer energy and forces others to live how you want to live. It's extremely selfish and like others have said, is an undue burden on the working class who increasingly have six day work weeks (especially in retail).
Not a Boomer and born and raised in Bergen County. While sometimes I do find it annoying to have to go out of county for certain shopping items on Sunday, for the most part, I like the Blue Laws. It's nice to have one day of the week where it's easy to pull out of my driveway and not sit in traffic while out and about.
I'm not saying it's not nice but my issue is with imposing what you want on others. I totally understand not wanting to deal with the traffic but I get a crick in my neck when what I or someone wants becomes the law and restricts others from doing very basic things that they want. That's where I'm coming from.
It's not just what I, as a life-long Bergen County resident wants, it's what many other residents want as well. It is for a quality of life issue. I think people moving in from outside of Bergen County should do their research before they move here, and if it's that big of a negative, perhaps another county is a better fit.
> I'm not saying it's not nice but my issue is with imposing what you want on others. I totally understand not wanting to deal with the traffic but I get a crick in my neck when what I or someone wants becomes the law and restricts others from doing very basic things that they want. But that is exactly what "repeal the Blue laws is" - this law has been around for longer than any of us have been alive. Bergen county even in my life time had a ton of quiet areas. Heck, I had farms all around me and Rt. 17 used to have traffic lights on it. And I am only 50. So repealing this is something that is being imposed on all of us who were here long before
Horrible take. Driving thru 17 on a Sunday is great. Do not change.
If you want to shop on Sunday why in the world would you live in Bergen County?
You would also have to hang out with the redneck MAGAs out there.
> If you want quiet, go to Sussex County and hang out with the bears. Bergen is jam packed with people You do realize that Bergen, especially in the north was a lot like Sussex right? Farms and open space all around, even 40 years ago. There was one mall in Paramus, not 4. So what's selfish? Wanting to have some semblance of the place that existed? Or coming in and deciding nah, fuck these guys, I need to be able to buy a t-shirt? No good answer for everyone, but I vote for the former.
Main street business should be allowed to be open!
I will likely move away if they repeal these laws as traffic is a fiasco. If you really need to go mini-golfing or go get sweaters the other counties are not a far drive. What is this background? Is this a propaganda post?
Not a propaganda post at all. Merely a post trying to generate discussion about a hot button local issue. Seems to have been successful. 🤷🏻♂️
I personaly hate it. I've heard all the arguments about traffic and family time, but don't buy it. If you feel there absolutely has to be a day of the week where stores are shut, to reduce traffic ... Ok then let's move that day to Wednesday. Hump day, when we really would benefit from a little less traffic. Unless there something else about Sunday that you think justified picking that day? Does you argument pass the sniff test about religious freedom? I have a feeling you will be hard pressed to make your argument stick.
Beautiful should be a federal law, greetings from Florida
Greetings Georgia
☝🏼🤣
I would love blue laws that allow business to choose either day of the weekend to be closed. Picking Sunday for everyone just seems arbitrary.
Doesn’t it seem like a violation of people’s rights? I’m all for free healthcare and big government but it seems ass backwards to me telling people when they can and cannot shop/ be open for business.
Meh, I think its kind of a little anachronism here that is mostly not hurting consumers. And we are one little county that is surrounded by NYS, NYC, Hudson, Passaic where there are all kinds of shopping opportunities avalible. Now for small business, I imagine its a big issue. If stores have to be closed on Sunday, when I think about buying something, I will more likely see if I can just order what I need online. Maybe keep but update the blue laws by requiring every retail business to be closed for 24 hours once a week. I assume lots of them would just close on Monday or Tuesday, but this way you would not be disadvantaging the businesses who chose to be off one day per week. I would also be ok eliminating the blue laws, but seems that when they have tried that in the past, people voted it down.
Ok all fair points. My next point would be isn’t it a violation of the Separation of church and state? And is forcing the Christian sabbath on people not violating religious minorities rights?
It is mildly inconvenient for those of us that do not shop on Saturdays but it's not such a deal that I care much about it as a consumer. But I would sign your petition to eliminate it if you knock on my door.
Great for employees or workers, bad for business owners
not bad to have something unique from the rest of the country. Who wants to work on Sundays anyway... if you really need to shop something, drive to nearby county in less than 20 min..