“Jim” McGreevey’s white elephant Xanadu renamed the American dream project
Here We Go Again : Modernize Bergen County New Jersey is looking to Repeal the Blue Laws
Will “Open on Sunday ” help Ridgewood Merchants
August 25,2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, A group called Modernize Bergen County New Jersey looking to “Repeal the Blue Laws” and has according to sources gathered enough signatures to put the Blue Law Repeal on the ballot
The Modernize Bergen County Campaign is a group dedicated to the Repeal of the Bergen County Blue Laws.
According to their Facebook page Bergen County is one of the last remaining Sunday closing laws in the United States that covers selling electronics, clothing and furniture is found in Bergen County, New Jersey.
Bergen County, part of the New York metropolitan area, has one of the largest concentrations of enclosed retail shopping malls of any county in the nation; four major malls lie within the county.
A supporter on their Facebook page claimed , ” Well another Ridgewood women’s clothing store has bitten the dust. Yes Yansi Fugel. Well this is the second women’s clothing store in the past month that has closed in Ridgewood. We all know it is still bad economically, yet another reason for these nasty Blue Laws to finally disappear!!!!”
This debate has raged for years , and despite there inconvenience the Blue Laws have remained resoundingly popular in the County and lets face it food stores , liquor and drug store are all open on Sunday .
While extra hours may help some retailers in an out of down town Ridgewood , perhaps staying open later then 5pm so the few remaining people with jobs could actually shop , maybe a far simpler idea .
The economy in North jersey is very weak and lack of Sunday hours may or may not be contributing to weakness in the retail sector . Lack of Jobs, raising prices, increased taxes , and bad customer service also all contribute to that weakness.
In the past these open on Sunday pushes have been lead by mega retailers , unions , and politician looking to save ill conceived projects in the Meadowlands .
The opposition to Sunday openings have been called ‘racists , bigots, homophobes , flat earth people, rich snobs and worse religious zealots .
While so far this group seems to have shied away from name calling ,it has gotten support from all the NJ main stream media , which implies there is more politics behind this than one is lead to believe.
Look forward to the updated story posted on the older original story …. The Bergen Judge Sylvia Pressler predicted that this would happen when she submitted an legal opinion against such a Blue Law. She said, “Shopping Malls will become the recreations centers of the shopping communities and should not hold Bergen hostage to such a Blue Law”.
She was one smart Judge.
Ridgewood stores are dying more from the lack of parking than the lack of Sunday shopping. 20 years and counting on a parking garage solution!!!! Paul……How about fixing that, instead of prioritizing the grandiose condo plans that will ruin our village.
#2…. It seems that parking problems are still here…. Perhaps, we can solve both problems with a new Village manager and an energized Council.
Rte 17 will be at stand still on Sunday too? Drivers using Ridgewood local streets as a short cut. Can’t wait. Residents of Ridgewood, Maywood, Rochelle Park, Saddle Brook, River Edge and Oradell can look forward to pay more for Sunday police coverage while receiving none of the tax benefits that Paramus residents enjoy.
I’m all for it! People don’t work 9-5 M-F anymore and should have access to shopping and jobs when convenient.
Will Sunday opening help the Malls and the chain stores, probably a little. But the Mom & Pop stores need a day off and will become even less competitive with national chains if they stay cloased on Sunday while the competiton is opened, The CBD has thrived in years past with Blue laws, so it is hardly the big reason for the struggles. Also, CBDs in other small towns are experiencing the same contraction despite the absence of Blue laws. Less face it, retail shopping is changing rapidly. Bottom line is that Blue law repeal will not likely have a material benefit and is likely to hurt many mom & pop retailers. The big winners will be the malls.
The big winners will be people who work six days and shoppers in general.