
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
East Rutherford NJ, residents of Bergen County no longer need to travel to places like the Palisades Center in Rockland County, NY, or the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne for Sunday shopping. Instead, American Dream Mall in East Rutherford offers a closer option—with its retail stores, rides, waterslides, ski slopes, and restaurants fully open on Sundays.
While this is great news for Sunday shoppers, it’s stirring controversy due to Bergen County’s longstanding Blue Laws, which prohibit the sale of non-essential items like clothing, furniture, and cars on Sundays. Grocery stores are the exception.
American Dream Open on Sundays Despite Blue Laws
For nearly a year, retail stores at American Dream have remained open on Sundays, despite the Blue Laws, which date back to the 17th century. Don Ghermezian, CEO of Triple Five—the Canadian company behind American Dream—defended the decision:
“We are ecstatic that our extensive list of offerings operates on Sundays, allowing everyone to enjoy the very best of American Dream whenever they want.”
This policy sets American Dream apart from other Bergen County retailers, where stores must close on Sundays.
Why the Blue Laws Matter
Proponents of the Blue Laws argue they provide much-needed relief to Bergen County residents, particularly in Paramus, a town often overwhelmed by mall traffic throughout the week.
County officials have expressed frustration with American Dream’s decision to remain open on Sundays, calling it a “disregard” for the Blue Laws and claiming it creates an unfair advantage for the mall’s tenants.
“Its violation gives American Dream Mall tenants an unfair advantage over all other Bergen County businesses lawfully complying with state law,” a county spokesperson stated.
Legal Challenges and Enforcement Issues
In May, Bergen County officials urged the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA)—which owns the land where American Dream is located—to enforce the Blue Laws. However, the NJSEA responded that it lacks authority to enforce compliance.
Robert Davidow, an attorney for New Jersey, clarified in a letter:
“The NJSEA is not that entity [with authority to enforce the Blue Laws].”
Efforts to seek guidance from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office have so far yielded no clear answers. A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office declined to comment, citing restrictions on providing legal interpretations to the press.
What’s Next for American Dream and Bergen County?
With no enforcement mechanism in place, American Dream continues to operate as a Sunday shopping destination, much to the delight of local shoppers and the dismay of county officials. Whether this issue will lead to further legal challenges or legislative changes remains uncertain.
For now, residents of Bergen County can enjoy Sunday shopping at American Dream Mall—offering everything from high-end retail stores to thrilling entertainment options.
Plan Your Visit to American Dream
- Address: 1 American Dream Way, East Rutherford, NJ
- What’s Open on Sundays: Retail stores, restaurants, rides, waterslides, and ski slopes
- Website: American Dream Mall Official Site
Stay tuned for updates on the ongoing debate surrounding Bergen County’s Blue Laws and American Dream’s operations.
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The blue laws are stupid and outdated. If stores want to open and people want to shop, let them. Laissez-faire.
The Blue Laws are absurd. All they do is make Saturday’s driving ridiculously busy.
How about enforcing the blue laws? Shut the place down on Sundays. If officials look the other way and continue to let them open on Sundays, other businesses throughout Bergen County will follow suit and thumb their noses at the law. The last thing Bergen County needs, especially Paramus, is to have the stores open on Sunday. Traffic in Paramus is already a nightmare.
so very true. The blue laws are outdated. How would you like paying rent for a store? You can’t open up on Sunday. Do you know much business goes out of town out of the county. we’re in such a different world today that most businesses need to be open seven days a week some later on an hours that’s what happens when you’re overpopulated. Like New York City and never shuts down it’s business. You gotta make money.
It’s easy for people who don’t live in Paramus to say “do away with the blue laws” when they don’t have to live in a town that has three major highways running through it, wall-to-wall shopping malls and major traffic volume the other 6 days of the week. Try jamming all those things in one of the other Bergen County towns and see what those residents eventually think of the idea. Not only dealing with traffic volume but also the air pollution. Again, $ rule rather than common sense and concern for residents.
We are not NYC and no you don’t.
people with no friends go shopping on the weekends
with the internet , I am not getting why anyone needs to go to a mall to go shopping ???
a lot of you low class dirt bags should move back to the Bronx
people with no friends and no money you mean
Hey, I have plenty of my friends at home stores right here in the village .and a big big rent. And they would love to open their business on a Sunday especially on the holidays . All the food, establishments and bars, coffee cafés, real estate agents are open on a Sunday, but they don’t want you to buy a sweater on a sundae. It’s such bullshit if you need a pair of underwear in an emergency, you can’t buy it how stupid is that. and not to mention all the hardware stores are open today on a Sunday holiday, that’s OK though right, I just bought a brand, new shovel, snowblower, salt, and a hammer, but I can’t go across the street and buy new socks because it’s gonna be cold yeah OK. These people that make the laws were hypocrites Ebenezers, right,
Curious to know what you would need emergency underwear for.
Why has Home Hardware in Waldwick been allowed to be open for years on Sundays?
Sears Hardware in Midland Park was also open on Sundays.
clearly you have no clue as to the content of the Blue laws.
I know many hardware stores are open on Sundays, nothing new. It’s amazing that I can buy anything. I need at my local hardware store. They carry everything that Home Depot has and speaking about certain clothing I can walk into CVS and buy underwear, socks, hats, scarf, gloves, T-shirts, some stores even carry sweatpants, but you can’t open a clothing store and sell that on a Sunday in Bergen County . so it’s such bullshit. and on a normal Sunday, you can’t run power equipment tools but when there’s a snowstorm, you could run your snowblower all night long. Right, some snowblowers are louder than a lawnmower. Oh.
not true. Read the Blue laws so you don’t look so ignorant.
Useless. Get rid of it.
If you don’t like the laws, have them repealed or changed.
… or are you saying that everyone can just chose which laws they want to follow and which they want to ignore ?
Everyone can just chose which laws they want to follow and which they want to ignore. (I fixed the sentence for you by removing the question mark.) If you can ignore a law and suffer no consequences it’s not really a law, it’s an arbitrary diktat. For comparison’s sake, try jumping off your roof and whilst arguing with the law of gravity.
I think Paramus’ Blue Laws are even stricter than the county level ones
And they need to be since it’s overdeveloped with wall-to-wall stores.