Blue laws

[Major Nikon]

[In_The_Wind]

1. It was peaceful.

[hollysmom]

2. bergen county has blue laws. they used to be common in NJ, but

they are mostly gone now, still in one area they flourish. in Bergen county - and it has nothing to do with booze, it has to do with a plethora of shopping malls. one influential town, Paramus has several large malls and tons more small malls, they like it because there is one day a week when they are not stuck in traffic. No stores open, no businesses can operate, A large computer center was going to move there, but they could not get an exemption from the blue laws and computers run 24/7 - so they did not build there.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Very funny!

But I know that all the different laws in different states can be confusing. I'm in New York where we have liquor stores - the only place you can buy wine and liquor. But I used to spend a lot of time in NC with my grandmother and once ran into the wine aisle when I was in a drug store looking for shampoo. And when I was in California, I picked up a bottle of wine at a grocery store, but there was a long line and by the time I got to the register it was just past midnight, so they wouldn't let me buy it...

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. When I was growing up in Wash. state even the smallest towns had taverns

the tavern to church ratio was 4 to 1.
But stores and taverns were closed on Sunday.
so people stocked up on beer on Sat.

Down here in the South, there are no taverns in most towns
but there are a LOT of churches.
There are "dry" counties and "wet" counties, usually the dry ones are next to the wet ones.
In wet counties you can buy liquor in state package stores, and beer and wine in grocery stores ( but not on Sunday).
Stores selling booze are almost on the wet/dry county line.
There is a legal limit on how much booze you carry across a state or county line.
Some restaurants sell wine and beer, depending on which county you are in.

Our town voted to go wet in 2004.
There are people here who are STILL mad about that.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. I think my grandmother lived in a dry county

And there was a package store not all that far away, but I never did figure out the hours, LOL. All states apparently have different rules, which is very confusing. Back when I was interested in these things, I remember that you couldn't buy alcohol in New York on Sundays before noon...

[MicaelS]

4. Texas Blue Laws were exceedingly stupid.

You would go into a department store, and some aisles would be cordoned off, because you could not buy certain items. Not liquor but housewares.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_law

In Texas, for example, blue laws prohibited selling housewares such as pots, pans, and washing machines on Sunday until 1985.

[Major Nikon]

6. The ones affecting car sales are still in effect

All blue laws are stupid. The ones involving alcohol sales are even dummer.

I can't buy a bottle of beer or wine to take home after midnight(except on Sunday morning till 1am for beer and 2am for wine), but I can sit in a bar and drink the same thing until 2am any day of the week. I can't buy beer or wine till noon and I can't buy liquor at all on Sunday(unless I'm at a bar).

So in other words if I want to buy alcohol and take it home to drink it, I'm far more restricted than if I go to a bar where people are more likely to drink and drive.

[davidpdx]

5. It could be worse

Here in Korea twice a month all grocery stores are closed (usually on Sundays) except for ones that are in large department centers.