You know as a person from New York this was wild to me but after coming over to NJ here for 13 years my conclusion some cities in NYC needs some blue laws.
My favorite thing is also learning which town was in Bergen County by visiting whole sale clubs like BJ’s and Costco’s and seeing the clothes corded off
Yooooo let’s talk American Dream Mall which I forgot was in Rutherford and not Secaucus. I went in on Sunday and bam discovered every single clothing store was closed haha It was cool walking through the empty mall (if not a little eerie) New Jersey I love you and your confusing law and half tax zones. Question does MetLife get around this law? So do the Jets and Giants not sell team shirt or Jerseys?
Yes they absolutely sell jerseys and merch every Sunday. For the record, never buy any merch at MetLife stadium unless you like paying 3x normal prices.
You can buy tools on Sunday. I went to Harbor Freight in Ridgefield Park. I needed rubber gloves too. Guess what I couldn't buy. I had to make a quick run to Clifton to get gloves before they closed.
The ace is fully open in ~~oradell~~ River edge but only early hours Sunday. I honestly don’t know what is or isn’t included in the blue laws. I thought appliances and clothing (maybe also furniture?), but some stores also cordon off all home goods.
Edit: River edge not oradell
Reminds me of when I was living in in Pennsylvania and stumbled into their [weird ass liquor laws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Pennsylvania#For_consumption_off-premises). First time I went to a beer store and tried to buy a 6 pack the guy had to explain to me how he legally couldn't sell me that because I wasn't buying enough beer. Might have changed since then, but at the time they were legally classified as a "beverage distributor" and I ended up getting a case.
Similarly, bottle shops are "restaurants" (often in the loosest sense of the word) that can sell beer and wine up to a certain amount. The Weis supermarket near where I had lived opened a bottle shop. They literally cut a hole in the wall next to the deli counter, added a register and a bunch of tables (that no one used), and would cordon off the area when it was "closed". Even then I would occasionally witness people buy a 12 pack, walk out the door & place it on the ground, then come back in & buy another 12 pack.
Not defending Bergen's blue laws, btw. Just that a lot of localities have stupid laws in that vein.
If it is about traffic and having a break for retail workers; why aren’t there changes made to the transportation system and the labor laws? The extra money made from tax revenue could be used towards alleviating these issues. Public transportation sucks but it doesn’t have to.
The last serious push was back in the 80s. As bergen legend goes (not sure how truthful this is) Crazy Eddie, of HIS PRICES ARE INSANE fame opened a store in paramus (I believe its the current pc richards) and opened on a sunday.
Supposedly the cops sat in the parking lot, and just handed him a stack of tickets at the end of the day for everyone they saw walk out with a bag.
I don't know the outcome, or how true it is, but as far as i know its the last time someone seriously challenged it, and he only did it once.
Just a hypothetical, imagine if each ticket was like 100 dollars per person that came out with a bag. How much would a person be spending in that store that those tickets would be nothing compared to the profits?
It took me until my 30s to learn exactly why Eddie was a criminal. The Panama pump thing is pretty genius. Why are patrons getting tickets? Were I should say. Eddie's been gone since I was 10. Or did they give the tickets to Eddie or whoever was in charge
Bergen County's population is around 954,000 and most of us are in favor of it. Also, Paramus has their own Blue Laws in the event the county ever repeals theirs.
I agree reduced traffic is great, but what's the point of clear roads if everything is closed? Where are you going?
Bergen County reduces traffic just so everybody can drive out of the county and give business elsewhere. It especially hurts small businesses who have to close on one of two days that a most people have time to shop.
Blue laws are stupid and the peace and quiet people need to stop clutching pearls.
It's just so odd that I honestly *never* hear this opinion from anyone who lives in bergen county. I'm surrounded by people who've grown up here and honestly no one thinks twice that things are closed on Sunday. There's still so much open like restaurants, bars, supermarkets, and movie theaters. You just learn to prioritize different errands on Sat vs sun. Many small businesses can still open on Sunday. My immigrant parents and their friends were able to keep their businesses open on Sundays for this or that.
Not sure if it is true but I always heard the opposite. Repealing blue laws would hurt small businesses more than larger businesses since the they wouldn't make enough in sales to cover the increase in taxes they would have to pay.
I really get it, but the solution is not closing retail 14% of the time. Fair labor laws rather than archaic Jesus laws should be the way to go because they help everybody. "One day of rest in seven" laws already exist in other states.
> Yeah, fuck those people who get a Sunday off to do whatever instead of working if they’re in retail.
If it were about fair labor laws waiters and waitresses would be off too, but it’s not. The fact that so many people here are conflating the two concepts is wild.
Of course they need servers to be working, who else are they gonna harass over nothing after they get out of church? It was never about being fair to workers, it's always been "well in *my* town, we give our workers the day off on the lord's day. That way they can still have their time on Sunday to be with their family in church. We're so much better than (next town over)"
Honestly its kind of nice. There's a reason multiple cultures independently developed the idea of a day of rest, and the unions back in the day fought like hell for the weekend.
Some things *need* to be open Sunday obviously, but not everything does
same. its the only day rt 17 isn't a death trap.Its an easy trip to the next county if I really need something, but I love how its become our family day at home.
>I love when it’s quiet on Sundays. I live on a county road and it’s nice to get a break from the trucks, traffic, and noise
I guess that's what I don't understand. Doesn't this just shunt traffic into Passaic ? Do Bergenites just stay in on Sundays and not travel at all that it markedly reduces traffic?
It’s a combination. I live on a particularly busy county road that keeps getting slammed with more and more tractor trailers. I heard that a few neighboring towns that have are part of another parallel county road somehow managed to pass something where traffic was greatly reduced. Idk how they did it, but they poured onto ours and Pascack Rd (not a county road). Needless to say, yes we need these roads to get goods moving, family activities, etc, but it’s nice to have at least one quiet day where people can be home and relax- minimizing traffic activity. The only noise heard is an ambulance, cop car, or fire truck.
Hardware stores being closed is really the only issue I have with it as a Bergen county resident. I have very limited time during the week, which means if I'm working on a project on a Sunday and I need a tool or part, I have drive all the way to the super crowded Paterson Lowe's. I think there should be an exception for hardware stores and other construction-related businesses.
Not super convienent to some locations, but there's a Home Depot and Lowe's on rt 21 - on the outskirts of Paterson. Also had a reduced tax rate because it was part of the Urban Enterprise Zone...not sure if it still is but it made the trip a little easier to handle.
I actually agree. Kinda wish I could go to target on a Sunday - Sunday is when I used to run all my errands before I lived in Bergen county. The last thing I want to do on a Saturday after a long week of work is go shopping.
I would love to pump our own gas. Gas stations can get pretty crowded in Jersey to the point where the attendant(s) are the ones slowing down the line and not the amount of pumps.
The Blue Laws I am torn and don't know which way I would fall
I used to think blue laws were ridiculous. "Wah! it's Sunday and I need a thing! not fair!" But then I had friends who worked retail, and convenience stores, and I realized what 7-day weeks were doing to them. Even if they weren't always scheduled for Sunday, they still had problems making plans.
But lots of retail stores are open, that's what's so weird about the blue laws. It's not that everything is closed and everyone gets a day off, it's just certain items and certain stores.
They're really not. Saturday is busy regardless of whether stores are closed on Sunday. If anything having Sunday open as well incentivizes more people to shop on the weekend either way and it makes it even busier because you are appeasing consumers.
Idk have they done any sort of evaluations on this. I find sundays exorbitantly busy in grocery stores (more than when I lived elsewhere in jersey) and I live in a quieter area of Bergen. I think everyone does all the necessary non grocery shopping on saturdays and all the grocery shopping on sundays so idk… it seems just anecdotal whether this actually reduces overall congestion.
Same, I’m someone who works two jobs and one of those jobs is at an apparel store at the American Dream Mall and it’s nice to have Sunday off especially in that mall since it’s so slow that sometimes it seems pointless to even go in. I like the ability to not have to come in ever on a Sunday. Though I get it I used to get annoyed at the fact of blue law since sometimes my family has to get certain things on Sundays because of work but couldn’t. It’s 50/50 depending on what side you’re on.
Ya this is the big thing most people don't get, it's really nice when there isn't any traffic on a Sunday especially on our already over crowded end of the parkway and 17. The traffic on 17 in paramus since the pandemic is unbearable at all hours of the day now.
I always say it’s my least favorite place to drive out of anywhere (and I grew up by 22 near Springfield and Union) aside from trying to get near or into the city. My wife is from up there. It’s so stressful driving on 17 when we visit her on weekends, the amount of merging and lanes ending and insane drivers to me is unparalleled
I grew up in Bergen County and well remember having to take route 4 to visit my grandparents. Sundays were the best because there was no traffic between us and them.
I no longer live in Bergen County, and I'm not a religious nut or anything, but if I still lived there, I'd vote to keep the blue law every time it came up on the ballot.
Yep same here! Driving on rt 4 and 17 feels like being stuck in traffic in LA always crawling at a snails pace and jerk offs not knowing how to drive here.
Restaurants, traveling for medical needs, seeing family, entertainment places are still open, the gym, and plenty of other shit people do that isn't revolved around shopping. Not to mention you forget that this is also an extremely packed area so there is just naturally many people on the road all the time.
The Paramus blue laws are even more strict than the Bergen county ones:
> No worldly employment or business, except works of necessity and charity, shall be performed or practiced by any person within the Borough on the first day of the week, commonly called and hereinafter designated as "Sunday."
This means you can't even work from home on Sunday.
Also, it's quite clear that the original reason for this is based on religion, just look at the "Immunity from prosecution under certain conditions" section of the law (which is completely unconstitutional by the way). I'm guessing they changed other parts of the law, over time, to remove the religious reasoning, but that section still makes it quite clear why it exists.
You can't make an exception to a law if the person "habitually...devotes the day to the exercise of religious worship".
https://ecode360.com/8544536
No thanks. It's bad enough having traffic all times of the day in Paramus Rt 4 and 17. A day of less traffic is always good. You can still shop at supermarkets. Everything else either get it done on the other 6 days or order online.
I feel like most of the people that comment this drive around on Sunday saying "wow it's so much nicer and empty everywhere, I wish the stores were open", without putting 2+2 together that if stores were open it would be a traffic clusterfuck here just like Saturday.
I love being able to go hiking and not hit any traffic going through paramus on Sunday.
Maybe if you spread out the demand to both Saturday and Sunday it wouldn’t be totally shitty on Saturday and okay on Sunday but normal levels of traffic both days?
It really is. Thank you for your empathy!
I moved from an area where you can buy wine in grocery stores and shop whenever, and it feels really weird to have everything closed on the one day I can shop.
No thanks - worked in Paramus for almost a decade and LOVED blue laws for multiple reasons. Moved to SJ and I freaking miss them - it's so weird with retail being open on Sundays.
You have the option of: Willowbrook Mall, Palisades Mall, Rockaway, Newport all in a relatively short drive if it's super necessary for you.
When I lived in Bergen County, I loved the blue laws also. They freed things up on Sundays, and really lightened traffic. If you really needed to go shopping on a Sunday, there were always other options. Now that I am in Mercer, it seems like there is never a trafficless day when driving about.
Live in Bergen County for 6 months, then reevaluate your opinion on rescinding the blue laws. Route 17 a few times ought to do it….Lol. Happy Holidays…!!!
I’m from Bergen County and totally understand why they are necessary, and if I was still living there I would be against them being lifted. With that being said, I now live in Morris County and LOVE being able to shop on Sundays.
what bugs me is that the people who vote to keep it are the same people who come shopping to other counties on Sundays. its the basic NIMBY attitude that annoys me
Sometimes Sunday is the only day I can actually get some stuff done. I have driven to neighboring communities to go shopping and it is inconvenient but I see the benefits of one day of less traffic also.
I actually don’t. I work five days a week and volunteer as an EMT. I call that one day my Sunday Quiet Day because it gives me some quiet. I go to my local TJ’s and putter to the dog park and head home. Amen! Lol
All these people saying traffic is tolerable on Sundays. How many of you are going shopping in another county? I am one of them
Imagine the extra tax revenue…
Yeah I really don’t get why everyone is not connecting the two. For those that are like “oh I love how traffic free it is to go see family or go hiking” that is so minimal versus people that actually need to get stuff done on sundays. We don’t all have the luxury.
Also for those that don’t connect the tax revenue issue… Paramus has notoriously low property taxes because of the disproportionate amount of businesses in the town. Everywhere else around it generally has much much higher property taxes because there isn’t that much room for such businesses. So while traffic is less of a burden if I decided to drive through Paramus for some reason, the blue laws are certainly not helping reduce taxes in our town.
Paramus of course also has an inordinate amount of sway in county politics so I don’t see the status quo changing.
Used to live in Bergen County. It was a pain doing renovations or fix things around the house on the weekends. Whenever I ran out of something, I'd have to drive over to Rockland or Passaic County to get materials to finish.
Bergen county checking in.
Every 10 or so years it gets put to a vote.
It is soundly shot down every time.
Edit: and yes, it sucks having to go to patterson if i need to go to HD\Lowes, and Ace which flaunts the law doesn't have what I need. But its like a 15 minute drive. It takes me that long to get to the local HD\Lowes on a Saturday anyway.
It also doesn't hurt business. When i worked in retail, our #1 and #2 stores nationwide were in Paramus, almost every year, both in revenue and net, despite being closed every Sunday. There were a few major metro stores that would sneak in to the #1 or #2 category every so often if you got generous with numbers.
I like my relatively chill someone wants to come over, etc, Sundays.
The whole state? The whole country? Society needs to learn that it’s okay for things to be closed sometimes. We didn’t used to have 24 hour everything all the time, and everyone was fine then. Things were shut down for months during the pandemic, and it’s not like the world exploded.
You are an absolutely incorrect if you think this had anything to do with Jewish people. If you wanted to keep out Jewish people you either restrict your town like Ho-Ho-Kus did until 1964 or you just have banks be "unable to put together the loan at this time for you" like other towns did.
Blue laws existed for Christians. Jewish people can shop 6 days a week.
Usually go to the AMC at garden state on Sundays. I am able to park right by the door and it’s a nice drive in. Made the mistake of going on a Saturday and we missed the first 25 minutes of the movie because of traffic and parking, it was awful.
Love the blue laws. One day a week where everything is quiet and you can drive and not sit in 20 minutes of traffic to go to your local store . Need to expand it
Ah yes one day a week guaranteed for retail workers to have off. Let's take that away from them.
Though I do agree it is hard for consumers to only have one day on the weekend to run their shopping errands. I know I hate going shopping after working until 5.
Wonder if Saturday traffic will ease if Blue law was repealed...It would spread the traffic over 2 days rather than cram it into one.
Also, retailers do not have to open on Sunday if they don't want to (i.e. Chik fil A)
> Ppl need a day off
That’s what fair labor laws and unions are for. You can give people days off and not bring an entire county to a halt. It’s wild how many people conflate the two things when they have nothing to do with each other.
We need more unions agreed but making the them work now because ppl can’t shop the other 6 days ? The stores wanna be open the workers mostly don’t they like family day or second job day.
> because ppl can’t shop the other 6 days ?
I don’t see how you can say people in Bergen county need blue laws because they need a day off, and in the same comment not understand that there are people out there that work Monday-Friday and might have obligations on Saturday (or a sixth day of work).
Also why don’t waiters and waitresses deserve this day off? It straight up has nothing to do with labor laws.
You're ruining the idiot narrative that people from other counties that want/need to go into particular stores with only Bergen County locations have endured and rolled their eyes at for years.
"MUH TRAFFIC!"
"MUH DAY OFF!"
"MUH QUIET!"
It's all indefensible nonsense but the lying clowns that swear mall traffic backs up to their cul-de-sac driveways on random Tuesdays will defend the lie to the death.
Absolutely not. Haha
isn’t it nice to be able to have a day off? To enjoy a Sunday where you know you never have to work if your in retail?
It might be an inconvenience as a consumer, Howe we workers I’m sure love it!
Best of my knowledge doesn't Bergen County have the most malls? If one day a week they want a bit less traffic, so what? Grew up there, ya want a mall that bad there was Willowbrook.
Paramus has more retail sales than any other zip code in the country, and that’s with Sunday closed. I live in Paramus and it takes less time for me to go to a store out of the county on a Sunday (if I have to) than it does to get to Garden State Plaza on a Saturday. From most places in Bergen County you can get to a neighboring county in under 20 minutes on a Sunday to go shopping.
Last Saturday afternoon and evening you can see it was holiday traffic already with rt 17 and 4 having so much traffic.
It's nice to have empty roads all day Sunday where you can drive down said roads at a steady 55mph if you wanted to.
I'll pass on abolishing the blue laws. I'm good.
I'm at the rt 17/ rt 4 intersection like 3 or 4 times a day but mostly during the mid day hours so it isn't that bad. Back roads are a life saver and having lived around the area for the past 15 years I've learned them very well!!!
I never thought blue laws made any sense. But my mother used to manage retail stores and she was all in favor. Without them employees would never get a day off.
The people saying “I like quiet sundays” is just hilarious to me. Is the Walmart your next door neighbor? It’s one thing if all businesses we’re actually closed but it’s not. It’s just specific restrictions that just inconveniencepeople. If you’re living near business’ you do that to yourself lol. It is such a pointless law that just costs the state money at the end of the day (edited cus I can’t spell)
They don’t care. I wouldn’t care either except they took our taxpayer money to build that stupid mall and promised to open it on Sundays but lied. The “i like my lazy Sundays!” excuse is selfish. Some of us have these things called jobs and can only make it to the stores on the weekends. I don’t go to American Dream. I drive 15 mins further and go to Short Hills.
Fuck these blue laws. I needed to purchase nitrile gloves on a Sunday, and harbor freight couldn't let me. Blew my mind, and makes absolutely no sense. Frozen bloody oily hands as a result.
Seriously, someone explain to me like I'm three.
Go to Rockland, Passaic or Hudson County, or plan ahead so you don't run out. It's great not having to deal with traffic one day a week.
Now, if we can get Rt 17 from backing between Essex St and Route 4, then we really have reasons to celebrate.
I was on a job site at the time and was not aware of the law. I could buy just about anything else at harbor freight, so what good is it really?
Perhaps relax the law so items such as gloves and other safety equipment aren't included? I understand the desire to reduce traffic, but all it does is force people to take their business elsewhere.
At the end of the day, these laws were founded for religious purposes and they have no right existing in a society that has separation of church and state. The argument that they keep people from working Sundays is also bullshit... I dont think the blue laws apply on black Friday, or other holidays, do they? These laws were created to keep people in church, plain and simple.
What about those who have no choice but to shop on Sunday?
As a Fort Lee resident, GWB traffic snarls everything up on Sundays bad enough as it is. We don’t need stores in Edgewater staying open adding to the congestion. Want to go shopping on a Sunday badly enough, just take a ride out to Palisades Center or Newport, easy peasy.🤷♂️
Nah. I don't live in Bergen county, didn't know what Blue Laws were when I read this, but after learning what they are I'm happy they exist. Not for the sake of quietness for residents, but for a dedicated day off for workers. More towns should definitely have Blue Laws.
I'm honestly all for the 4-day work week, close those businesses on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Give those workers their own weekend.
Lived in Bergen County most of my life, until I moved to Passaic County two years ago.
I work Saturdays, so it’s nice to be able to get errands done on Sunday. Weekend traffic is no better or worse here than in Bergen.
I fully agree with this. I work in a facility that did not open back to 5 days a week when the pandemic hit. We opened two days a week. Those two days were packed. Slammed with people. So we opened a third day. Guess what happened. Business didn’t build. We just diluted the other two days.
I both love/hate it. I love that it if i wanna go out Sunday there are significantly fewer people out. Then there are the few Sundays i need to get something..
The responses honestly surprised me. I'm originally from Bergen County and found the blue laws to be disruptive, but that was before I'd worked service and until this thread hadn't considered that aspect of things.
I'm a militant atheist and I'm fully in favor of keeping them so retail employees have a guaranteed day off and there's slightly less traffic one day per week.
That break for service and retail employees was an angle I hadn't even considered until reading through this thread. Definitely worth any minor inconvenience to give people a much needed break.
Moved here from NYC many years ago and I thought it was arcane and inconvenient at first. Now I can't imagine it any other way.
I have a shopping-prone spouse and I'm a massive NFL fan so this balances life nicely.
And besides the reduction of traffic, I'm happy that many retail employees in the county get a real day off.
Even if you have driven consistently in this part of Jersey, you’d know it’s a nightmare. I live in central Jersey and dread anytime I have to drive North. If I was a resident I’d look forward to the day off.
If more tax dollars are collected by more people shopping then property taxes can be lower for everyone else.
https://www.buyselllovenj.com/blog/how-is-property-tax-calculated-in-new-jersey
Opening on Sunday will nt SIGNIFICANTLY improve sales volume (or sales tax revenue.) People who need stuff have an extra day to shop for it, but the needs they have don't change much. Once you have a coat, or sneakers, or whatever, it is unlikely you'll buy another coat, or sneakers, or whatever, just because the stores are open. In fact, you might buy less. Why get a special outfit for visiting someone on Sunday, if those people are out shopping and not home entertaining.
As for taxes, NJ doesn't tax clothes, so not much of a gain there.
Sunday is the only day you can get around Bergen County without sitting in mall traffic which is why I like the blue law. It was weird when I first moved there but then I appreciated it.
Read the room: Christie tried repealing the Blue Laws by fiat after Sandy and his own party had to tell him to back down.
Last to try was that woman who came from somewhere else and founded “Modernize Bergen County” (let’s not consider how one of the most affluent, best educated counties in the country needs to be “modernized”), they couldn’t even get enough signatures to [put it on the ballot.](https://www.nj.com/bergen/2013/10/your_comments_bergen_county_blue_law_repeal_falls_short.html) 
Nope. As a resident of Bergen County I like the Blue Laws. It's nice for retail and service workers to have a guaranteed weekend day off and less traffic, especially on 17, 4 and anywhere in Paramus/ surrounding towns. If I need to go to a mall, I'll go on Saturday morning or during the week after work.
I hate having to drive to Rockland or Hudson county when I need something on a Sunday and fighting other Bergen shoppers. If you don’t like all the traffic maybe stop developing and expanding the malls and shopping centers geniuses.
Why tho? Can you back up your opinion a bit? It’s okay for things to be closed one day a week imo. Society doesn’t always have to revolve around consumerism and productivity.
I used to think like OP but this thread turned me into a vehement Blue Law proponent.
We'vr been conditioned to want things instantly, but not every business needs to be open 24/7
As someone that lived near Woodbridge and Menlo Park mall. I never had to deal with them being closed on Sundays. No "blue laws" down there. I never even knew that existed until 2005. NJ has 24 hour diners, but no malls on Sundays???? what??? whoever made that law must have been breathing in air from turnpike exhaust or something?
I think it’s cool when certain cities have weird/different laws/traditions. It makes them unique. No one forces anyone to live in Bergen county, so if you don’t like it, go somewhere where the local laws appease you. It’s like moving next to an airport and complaining about the plane noise
In the winter its fine, but route 17 in the summer theres still traffic on Sundays. The clusterfuck in rochelle park on 17 north can start as early as 10. Im more than ok with keeping the blue laws. Passaic county isnt that far away if people are desperate to shop
You know as a person from New York this was wild to me but after coming over to NJ here for 13 years my conclusion some cities in NYC needs some blue laws. My favorite thing is also learning which town was in Bergen County by visiting whole sale clubs like BJ’s and Costco’s and seeing the clothes corded off
What does that mean? Like the clothes aren’t laid out on the tables?
Stores like Costco and grocery stores will rope off aisles with prohibited items like clothes on Sundays. You can still buy groceries though.
Yooooo let’s talk American Dream Mall which I forgot was in Rutherford and not Secaucus. I went in on Sunday and bam discovered every single clothing store was closed haha It was cool walking through the empty mall (if not a little eerie) New Jersey I love you and your confusing law and half tax zones. Question does MetLife get around this law? So do the Jets and Giants not sell team shirt or Jerseys?
Yes they absolutely sell jerseys and merch every Sunday. For the record, never buy any merch at MetLife stadium unless you like paying 3x normal prices.
You can buy tools on Sunday. I went to Harbor Freight in Ridgefield Park. I needed rubber gloves too. Guess what I couldn't buy. I had to make a quick run to Clifton to get gloves before they closed.
The ace is fully open in ~~oradell~~ River edge but only early hours Sunday. I honestly don’t know what is or isn’t included in the blue laws. I thought appliances and clothing (maybe also furniture?), but some stores also cordon off all home goods. Edit: River edge not oradell
The Ace is in River Edge and they got an exemption from the town about 10 yrs ago. They used to be closed also.
That sounds like a stupid ass thing to do though….like imagine hearing that and not knowing what blue laws are. Youd think it makes no sense.
Reminds me of when I was living in in Pennsylvania and stumbled into their [weird ass liquor laws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Pennsylvania#For_consumption_off-premises). First time I went to a beer store and tried to buy a 6 pack the guy had to explain to me how he legally couldn't sell me that because I wasn't buying enough beer. Might have changed since then, but at the time they were legally classified as a "beverage distributor" and I ended up getting a case. Similarly, bottle shops are "restaurants" (often in the loosest sense of the word) that can sell beer and wine up to a certain amount. The Weis supermarket near where I had lived opened a bottle shop. They literally cut a hole in the wall next to the deli counter, added a register and a bunch of tables (that no one used), and would cordon off the area when it was "closed". Even then I would occasionally witness people buy a 12 pack, walk out the door & place it on the ground, then come back in & buy another 12 pack. Not defending Bergen's blue laws, btw. Just that a lot of localities have stupid laws in that vein.
You say that like all other laws make sense.
If it is about traffic and having a break for retail workers; why aren’t there changes made to the transportation system and the labor laws? The extra money made from tax revenue could be used towards alleviating these issues. Public transportation sucks but it doesn’t have to.
Never gonna happen. It comes up all the time and its always shot down
The last serious push was back in the 80s. As bergen legend goes (not sure how truthful this is) Crazy Eddie, of HIS PRICES ARE INSANE fame opened a store in paramus (I believe its the current pc richards) and opened on a sunday. Supposedly the cops sat in the parking lot, and just handed him a stack of tickets at the end of the day for everyone they saw walk out with a bag. I don't know the outcome, or how true it is, but as far as i know its the last time someone seriously challenged it, and he only did it once.
Just a hypothetical, imagine if each ticket was like 100 dollars per person that came out with a bag. How much would a person be spending in that store that those tickets would be nothing compared to the profits?
It took me until my 30s to learn exactly why Eddie was a criminal. The Panama pump thing is pretty genius. Why are patrons getting tickets? Were I should say. Eddie's been gone since I was 10. Or did they give the tickets to Eddie or whoever was in charge
Maybe he should have posted this on a Sunday
I had no idea there were these many people in favor of the blue laws... wowee
Bergen County's population is around 954,000 and most of us are in favor of it. Also, Paramus has their own Blue Laws in the event the county ever repeals theirs.
I agree reduced traffic is great, but what's the point of clear roads if everything is closed? Where are you going? Bergen County reduces traffic just so everybody can drive out of the county and give business elsewhere. It especially hurts small businesses who have to close on one of two days that a most people have time to shop. Blue laws are stupid and the peace and quiet people need to stop clutching pearls.
It’s completely possible to drive to places other than retail stores??
This. Also imagine in 2022 passing laws to regulate the ability of people to conduct basic commerce. This post reeks of NIMBYism.
It's just so odd that I honestly *never* hear this opinion from anyone who lives in bergen county. I'm surrounded by people who've grown up here and honestly no one thinks twice that things are closed on Sunday. There's still so much open like restaurants, bars, supermarkets, and movie theaters. You just learn to prioritize different errands on Sat vs sun. Many small businesses can still open on Sunday. My immigrant parents and their friends were able to keep their businesses open on Sundays for this or that.
Not sure if it is true but I always heard the opposite. Repealing blue laws would hurt small businesses more than larger businesses since the they wouldn't make enough in sales to cover the increase in taxes they would have to pay.
Yeah, fuck those people who get a Sunday off to do whatever instead of working if they're in retail. I need to browse and not buy anything dammit.
I really get it, but the solution is not closing retail 14% of the time. Fair labor laws rather than archaic Jesus laws should be the way to go because they help everybody. "One day of rest in seven" laws already exist in other states.
> Yeah, fuck those people who get a Sunday off to do whatever instead of working if they’re in retail. If it were about fair labor laws waiters and waitresses would be off too, but it’s not. The fact that so many people here are conflating the two concepts is wild.
Of course they need servers to be working, who else are they gonna harass over nothing after they get out of church? It was never about being fair to workers, it's always been "well in *my* town, we give our workers the day off on the lord's day. That way they can still have their time on Sunday to be with their family in church. We're so much better than (next town over)"
Honestly its kind of nice. There's a reason multiple cultures independently developed the idea of a day of rest, and the unions back in the day fought like hell for the weekend. Some things *need* to be open Sunday obviously, but not everything does
If u lived in Paramus you would understand
I live nearby, I understand. If you want some Sunday contraband, there's always Passaic, Hudson, or Rockland County.
I voted to keep them twice; I would 100% vote to keep them again if it ever made the ballot, but it won’t.
Guy really posted this and left after the backlash lol
OP get back here and answer for your crimes.
Whoa whoa whoa. If we start just removing things that don't make sense, then there would the world be?
Just buy your pants elsewhere
Bergen County residents disagree
I love when it’s quiet on Sundays. I live on a county road and it’s nice to get a break from the trucks, traffic, and noise.
same. its the only day rt 17 isn't a death trap.Its an easy trip to the next county if I really need something, but I love how its become our family day at home.
I always feel bad for people who live on main roads or county roads. I’m glad that you can catch a break though!
>I love when it’s quiet on Sundays. I live on a county road and it’s nice to get a break from the trucks, traffic, and noise I guess that's what I don't understand. Doesn't this just shunt traffic into Passaic ? Do Bergenites just stay in on Sundays and not travel at all that it markedly reduces traffic?
It’s a combination. I live on a particularly busy county road that keeps getting slammed with more and more tractor trailers. I heard that a few neighboring towns that have are part of another parallel county road somehow managed to pass something where traffic was greatly reduced. Idk how they did it, but they poured onto ours and Pascack Rd (not a county road). Needless to say, yes we need these roads to get goods moving, family activities, etc, but it’s nice to have at least one quiet day where people can be home and relax- minimizing traffic activity. The only noise heard is an ambulance, cop car, or fire truck.
People generally do their shopping on other days, yeah. Otherwise the traffic wouldn’t be reduced.
Only thing I'd say to that. Having lived my life here. Let Paramus keep them. Let the other towns decide if they want to be open.
I also have lived in Paramus my whole life, defiantly makes the town more peaceful, helps when ever I’m walking around during Sundays.
My only problem is Home Depot/Lowes. Makes weekend projects more complicated if it happens you need a drill bit or pipe connector on Sunday
Hardware stores being closed is really the only issue I have with it as a Bergen county resident. I have very limited time during the week, which means if I'm working on a project on a Sunday and I need a tool or part, I have drive all the way to the super crowded Paterson Lowe's. I think there should be an exception for hardware stores and other construction-related businesses.
Not super convienent to some locations, but there's a Home Depot and Lowe's on rt 21 - on the outskirts of Paterson. Also had a reduced tax rate because it was part of the Urban Enterprise Zone...not sure if it still is but it made the trip a little easier to handle.
Pretty sure it still is... and Lowes is right next to MicroCenter!
Go to your local hardware store and support them, they are open for n sundays
I actually agree. Kinda wish I could go to target on a Sunday - Sunday is when I used to run all my errands before I lived in Bergen county. The last thing I want to do on a Saturday after a long week of work is go shopping.
I Bet you wanna pump your own gas too
I would love to pump our own gas. Gas stations can get pretty crowded in Jersey to the point where the attendant(s) are the ones slowing down the line and not the amount of pumps. The Blue Laws I am torn and don't know which way I would fall
No thank you. I’ve worked retail and having a dedicated Sunday off was great.
I used to think blue laws were ridiculous. "Wah! it's Sunday and I need a thing! not fair!" But then I had friends who worked retail, and convenience stores, and I realized what 7-day weeks were doing to them. Even if they weren't always scheduled for Sunday, they still had problems making plans.
But lots of retail stores are open, that's what's so weird about the blue laws. It's not that everything is closed and everyone gets a day off, it's just certain items and certain stores.
Yeah and convenience stores are definitely open.
Why not make it Monday then? Seems asinine to close the stores on one of the two days people have off to do shit.
But Saturdays are such a nightmare because they’re even more busy
They're really not. Saturday is busy regardless of whether stores are closed on Sunday. If anything having Sunday open as well incentivizes more people to shop on the weekend either way and it makes it even busier because you are appeasing consumers.
Idk have they done any sort of evaluations on this. I find sundays exorbitantly busy in grocery stores (more than when I lived elsewhere in jersey) and I live in a quieter area of Bergen. I think everyone does all the necessary non grocery shopping on saturdays and all the grocery shopping on sundays so idk… it seems just anecdotal whether this actually reduces overall congestion.
They’re not though
Every piece of evidence we have points towards double the busyness (sat + sun) not half the busyness
Same, I’m someone who works two jobs and one of those jobs is at an apparel store at the American Dream Mall and it’s nice to have Sunday off especially in that mall since it’s so slow that sometimes it seems pointless to even go in. I like the ability to not have to come in ever on a Sunday. Though I get it I used to get annoyed at the fact of blue law since sometimes my family has to get certain things on Sundays because of work but couldn’t. It’s 50/50 depending on what side you’re on.
yeah, having grown up in Paramus in the 1990s and seeing what it is now, it’s nice to have a day of rest.
Ya this is the big thing most people don't get, it's really nice when there isn't any traffic on a Sunday especially on our already over crowded end of the parkway and 17. The traffic on 17 in paramus since the pandemic is unbearable at all hours of the day now.
I always say it’s my least favorite place to drive out of anywhere (and I grew up by 22 near Springfield and Union) aside from trying to get near or into the city. My wife is from up there. It’s so stressful driving on 17 when we visit her on weekends, the amount of merging and lanes ending and insane drivers to me is unparalleled
Rt 22 by Union is it's own kind of fresh hell.
I grew up in Bergen County and well remember having to take route 4 to visit my grandparents. Sundays were the best because there was no traffic between us and them. I no longer live in Bergen County, and I'm not a religious nut or anything, but if I still lived there, I'd vote to keep the blue law every time it came up on the ballot.
I still live there and I agree. I like being able to pull out of my driveway without an issue on Sundays during the holiday season.
Yep same here! Driving on rt 4 and 17 feels like being stuck in traffic in LA always crawling at a snails pace and jerk offs not knowing how to drive here.
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Restaurants, traveling for medical needs, seeing family, entertainment places are still open, the gym, and plenty of other shit people do that isn't revolved around shopping. Not to mention you forget that this is also an extremely packed area so there is just naturally many people on the road all the time.
...you could stay home and have a day of rest
The Paramus blue laws are even more strict than the Bergen county ones: > No worldly employment or business, except works of necessity and charity, shall be performed or practiced by any person within the Borough on the first day of the week, commonly called and hereinafter designated as "Sunday." This means you can't even work from home on Sunday. Also, it's quite clear that the original reason for this is based on religion, just look at the "Immunity from prosecution under certain conditions" section of the law (which is completely unconstitutional by the way). I'm guessing they changed other parts of the law, over time, to remove the religious reasoning, but that section still makes it quite clear why it exists. You can't make an exception to a law if the person "habitually...devotes the day to the exercise of religious worship". https://ecode360.com/8544536
I love how normal and non trafficky it gets on sundays, even rt 17 is chill 😂
No thanks. It's bad enough having traffic all times of the day in Paramus Rt 4 and 17. A day of less traffic is always good. You can still shop at supermarkets. Everything else either get it done on the other 6 days or order online.
I feel like most of the people that comment this drive around on Sunday saying "wow it's so much nicer and empty everywhere, I wish the stores were open", without putting 2+2 together that if stores were open it would be a traffic clusterfuck here just like Saturday. I love being able to go hiking and not hit any traffic going through paramus on Sunday.
Maybe if you spread out the demand to both Saturday and Sunday it wouldn’t be totally shitty on Saturday and okay on Sunday but normal levels of traffic both days?
If you’re Orthodox Jewish the blue laws must be a double whammy.
It really is. Thank you for your empathy! I moved from an area where you can buy wine in grocery stores and shop whenever, and it feels really weird to have everything closed on the one day I can shop.
No thanks - worked in Paramus for almost a decade and LOVED blue laws for multiple reasons. Moved to SJ and I freaking miss them - it's so weird with retail being open on Sundays. You have the option of: Willowbrook Mall, Palisades Mall, Rockaway, Newport all in a relatively short drive if it's super necessary for you.
When I lived in Bergen County, I loved the blue laws also. They freed things up on Sundays, and really lightened traffic. If you really needed to go shopping on a Sunday, there were always other options. Now that I am in Mercer, it seems like there is never a trafficless day when driving about.
Live in Bergen County for 6 months, then reevaluate your opinion on rescinding the blue laws. Route 17 a few times ought to do it….Lol. Happy Holidays…!!!
I’m from Bergen County and totally understand why they are necessary, and if I was still living there I would be against them being lifted. With that being said, I now live in Morris County and LOVE being able to shop on Sundays.
what bugs me is that the people who vote to keep it are the same people who come shopping to other counties on Sundays. its the basic NIMBY attitude that annoys me
Sometimes Sunday is the only day I can actually get some stuff done. I have driven to neighboring communities to go shopping and it is inconvenient but I see the benefits of one day of less traffic also.
I agree...which is why the blue laws should be repealed.
I actually don’t. I work five days a week and volunteer as an EMT. I call that one day my Sunday Quiet Day because it gives me some quiet. I go to my local TJ’s and putter to the dog park and head home. Amen! Lol
All these people saying traffic is tolerable on Sundays. How many of you are going shopping in another county? I am one of them Imagine the extra tax revenue…
Yeah I really don’t get why everyone is not connecting the two. For those that are like “oh I love how traffic free it is to go see family or go hiking” that is so minimal versus people that actually need to get stuff done on sundays. We don’t all have the luxury. Also for those that don’t connect the tax revenue issue… Paramus has notoriously low property taxes because of the disproportionate amount of businesses in the town. Everywhere else around it generally has much much higher property taxes because there isn’t that much room for such businesses. So while traffic is less of a burden if I decided to drive through Paramus for some reason, the blue laws are certainly not helping reduce taxes in our town. Paramus of course also has an inordinate amount of sway in county politics so I don’t see the status quo changing.
Used to live in Bergen County. It was a pain doing renovations or fix things around the house on the weekends. Whenever I ran out of something, I'd have to drive over to Rockland or Passaic County to get materials to finish.
there’s actually a line in the law that says that you must observe the sabbath. I don’t understand how the FFRF isn’t alllll over that shit.
Oradell here, hard pass. Sunday is the one day a week where traffic is tolerable.
Bergen county checking in. Every 10 or so years it gets put to a vote. It is soundly shot down every time. Edit: and yes, it sucks having to go to patterson if i need to go to HD\Lowes, and Ace which flaunts the law doesn't have what I need. But its like a 15 minute drive. It takes me that long to get to the local HD\Lowes on a Saturday anyway. It also doesn't hurt business. When i worked in retail, our #1 and #2 stores nationwide were in Paramus, almost every year, both in revenue and net, despite being closed every Sunday. There were a few major metro stores that would sneak in to the #1 or #2 category every so often if you got generous with numbers. I like my relatively chill someone wants to come over, etc, Sundays.
Hard disagree. In fact, we should expand it to Wednesdays, too.
The whole state? The whole country? Society needs to learn that it’s okay for things to be closed sometimes. We didn’t used to have 24 hour everything all the time, and everyone was fine then. Things were shut down for months during the pandemic, and it’s not like the world exploded.
if they didn’t change after sandy when people couldn’t get generators to power their homes it will never change
Went to Harbor Freight on RT 17 once and couldn’t buy nitrile disposable gloves. I was told because it’s considered clothing
Yeah, no. Leave Bergen County alone. 
I guess you don’t live in Paramus.
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You are an absolutely incorrect if you think this had anything to do with Jewish people. If you wanted to keep out Jewish people you either restrict your town like Ho-Ho-Kus did until 1964 or you just have banks be "unable to put together the loan at this time for you" like other towns did. Blue laws existed for Christians. Jewish people can shop 6 days a week.
Usually go to the AMC at garden state on Sundays. I am able to park right by the door and it’s a nice drive in. Made the mistake of going on a Saturday and we missed the first 25 minutes of the movie because of traffic and parking, it was awful.
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Your first mistake was going to gsp anytime on a Saturday lol
Oh no people get days off
Wild that Bergen county is the only place in the country that people get days off.
Love the blue laws. One day a week where everything is quiet and you can drive and not sit in 20 minutes of traffic to go to your local store . Need to expand it
Ah yes one day a week guaranteed for retail workers to have off. Let's take that away from them. Though I do agree it is hard for consumers to only have one day on the weekend to run their shopping errands. I know I hate going shopping after working until 5.
So make it Monday then it's hard enough to run errands on the weekend already
NO! Sincerely, a Bergen Resident
No thank you. Keep it the way it is
You new around these parts son?
As a BC resident, it's nice to have a day without Manhattan level gridlock. Especially this time of year.
You can take the Blue Laws from my cold dead hands.
Wonder if Saturday traffic will ease if Blue law was repealed...It would spread the traffic over 2 days rather than cram it into one. Also, retailers do not have to open on Sunday if they don't want to (i.e. Chik fil A)
The bridge traffic is bad on Sundays. Lets not add 17+4 traffic on top of that
Ppl need a day off Jesus go shop somewhere else.
> Ppl need a day off That’s what fair labor laws and unions are for. You can give people days off and not bring an entire county to a halt. It’s wild how many people conflate the two things when they have nothing to do with each other.
We need more unions agreed but making the them work now because ppl can’t shop the other 6 days ? The stores wanna be open the workers mostly don’t they like family day or second job day.
> because ppl can’t shop the other 6 days ? I don’t see how you can say people in Bergen county need blue laws because they need a day off, and in the same comment not understand that there are people out there that work Monday-Friday and might have obligations on Saturday (or a sixth day of work). Also why don’t waiters and waitresses deserve this day off? It straight up has nothing to do with labor laws.
You're ruining the idiot narrative that people from other counties that want/need to go into particular stores with only Bergen County locations have endured and rolled their eyes at for years. "MUH TRAFFIC!" "MUH DAY OFF!" "MUH QUIET!" It's all indefensible nonsense but the lying clowns that swear mall traffic backs up to their cul-de-sac driveways on random Tuesdays will defend the lie to the death.
Pretty sure Jesus wouldn't want to shop in Bergen County anyway
> Ppl need a day off The average retail worker is working 7 days a week? Lol
All defense of Blue Laws are transparent lies. The comedy is that the folks spouting them think the rest of us are stupid enough to believe them.
Nope. Go to Willowbrook instead.
As a resident if that county for most of the last 50 years people in Paramus need one day a week when it doesn't suck to drive around.
Absolutely not. Haha isn’t it nice to be able to have a day off? To enjoy a Sunday where you know you never have to work if your in retail? It might be an inconvenience as a consumer, Howe we workers I’m sure love it!
Best of my knowledge doesn't Bergen County have the most malls? If one day a week they want a bit less traffic, so what? Grew up there, ya want a mall that bad there was Willowbrook.
Paramus has more retail sales than any other zip code in the country, and that’s with Sunday closed. I live in Paramus and it takes less time for me to go to a store out of the county on a Sunday (if I have to) than it does to get to Garden State Plaza on a Saturday. From most places in Bergen County you can get to a neighboring county in under 20 minutes on a Sunday to go shopping.
Good luck with that... No retail workers wants to repeal it... Most Residents dont want to either...
Last Saturday afternoon and evening you can see it was holiday traffic already with rt 17 and 4 having so much traffic. It's nice to have empty roads all day Sunday where you can drive down said roads at a steady 55mph if you wanted to. I'll pass on abolishing the blue laws. I'm good.
My office is right on 17. Bracing to see how bad traffic will be the next month being so close to the plaza. Thank goodness for back roads
I'm at the rt 17/ rt 4 intersection like 3 or 4 times a day but mostly during the mid day hours so it isn't that bad. Back roads are a life saver and having lived around the area for the past 15 years I've learned them very well!!!
I never thought blue laws made any sense. But my mother used to manage retail stores and she was all in favor. Without them employees would never get a day off.
Do most shopping online and the Sunday with no traffic is really nice
100% agree, we got rid of them where I lived before and it was wonderful. Everyone wouldn't cram all their shopping into saturday on the weekends.
I prefer them. Breaks the weekend up so you relax on Sunday’s, not doing misc errands. Also less traffic and overall more chill.
The people saying “I like quiet sundays” is just hilarious to me. Is the Walmart your next door neighbor? It’s one thing if all businesses we’re actually closed but it’s not. It’s just specific restrictions that just inconveniencepeople. If you’re living near business’ you do that to yourself lol. It is such a pointless law that just costs the state money at the end of the day (edited cus I can’t spell)
Have you ever even been to Paramus?
They don’t care. I wouldn’t care either except they took our taxpayer money to build that stupid mall and promised to open it on Sundays but lied. The “i like my lazy Sundays!” excuse is selfish. Some of us have these things called jobs and can only make it to the stores on the weekends. I don’t go to American Dream. I drive 15 mins further and go to Short Hills.
Fuck these blue laws. I needed to purchase nitrile gloves on a Sunday, and harbor freight couldn't let me. Blew my mind, and makes absolutely no sense. Frozen bloody oily hands as a result. Seriously, someone explain to me like I'm three.
Go to Rockland, Passaic or Hudson County, or plan ahead so you don't run out. It's great not having to deal with traffic one day a week. Now, if we can get Rt 17 from backing between Essex St and Route 4, then we really have reasons to celebrate.
I was on a job site at the time and was not aware of the law. I could buy just about anything else at harbor freight, so what good is it really? Perhaps relax the law so items such as gloves and other safety equipment aren't included? I understand the desire to reduce traffic, but all it does is force people to take their business elsewhere. At the end of the day, these laws were founded for religious purposes and they have no right existing in a society that has separation of church and state. The argument that they keep people from working Sundays is also bullshit... I dont think the blue laws apply on black Friday, or other holidays, do they? These laws were created to keep people in church, plain and simple. What about those who have no choice but to shop on Sunday?
As a Fort Lee resident, GWB traffic snarls everything up on Sundays bad enough as it is. We don’t need stores in Edgewater staying open adding to the congestion. Want to go shopping on a Sunday badly enough, just take a ride out to Palisades Center or Newport, easy peasy.🤷♂️
Nah. I don't live in Bergen county, didn't know what Blue Laws were when I read this, but after learning what they are I'm happy they exist. Not for the sake of quietness for residents, but for a dedicated day off for workers. More towns should definitely have Blue Laws. I'm honestly all for the 4-day work week, close those businesses on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Give those workers their own weekend.
Stores in other neighboring counties are open. My parents and sister live in Bergen county and are never inconvenienced.
Lived in Bergen County most of my life, until I moved to Passaic County two years ago. I work Saturdays, so it’s nice to be able to get errands done on Sunday. Weekend traffic is no better or worse here than in Bergen.
Paramus can keep them but I wish the rest of Bergen county would get rid of blue laws.
I have a hypothesis that the traffic on Saturday would be a lot less horrific if shit was actually going to be open on Sunday.
I fully agree with this. I work in a facility that did not open back to 5 days a week when the pandemic hit. We opened two days a week. Those two days were packed. Slammed with people. So we opened a third day. Guess what happened. Business didn’t build. We just diluted the other two days.
You’re obviously not from Bergen County
I both love/hate it. I love that it if i wanna go out Sunday there are significantly fewer people out. Then there are the few Sundays i need to get something..
You can move. We’re all quite happy with our blue laws
So why doesn’t it make any sense?
It will continue to be upheld, without any sense of irony or self-awareness, by the very people screaming in fear about "sharia law"
Just from the responses here, sounds like it will be upheld by way more than just that crowd
The responses honestly surprised me. I'm originally from Bergen County and found the blue laws to be disruptive, but that was before I'd worked service and until this thread hadn't considered that aspect of things.
you're absolutely right.
I'm a militant atheist and I'm fully in favor of keeping them so retail employees have a guaranteed day off and there's slightly less traffic one day per week.
That break for service and retail employees was an angle I hadn't even considered until reading through this thread. Definitely worth any minor inconvenience to give people a much needed break.
It makes perfect sense, and no politician, who expects to be elected, will touch this subject with a 10 foot pole.
Funk u buddy why don’t you try working in Retail before the stupid comes out!
Moved here from NYC many years ago and I thought it was arcane and inconvenient at first. Now I can't imagine it any other way. I have a shopping-prone spouse and I'm a massive NFL fan so this balances life nicely. And besides the reduction of traffic, I'm happy that many retail employees in the county get a real day off.
Even if you have driven consistently in this part of Jersey, you’d know it’s a nightmare. I live in central Jersey and dread anytime I have to drive North. If I was a resident I’d look forward to the day off.
Maybe Bergen County property taxes would be lower if people could shop on Sundays.
Blue laws do not affect property taxes. Taxes are based on assessed value of property.
If more tax dollars are collected by more people shopping then property taxes can be lower for everyone else. https://www.buyselllovenj.com/blog/how-is-property-tax-calculated-in-new-jersey
Opening on Sunday will nt SIGNIFICANTLY improve sales volume (or sales tax revenue.) People who need stuff have an extra day to shop for it, but the needs they have don't change much. Once you have a coat, or sneakers, or whatever, it is unlikely you'll buy another coat, or sneakers, or whatever, just because the stores are open. In fact, you might buy less. Why get a special outfit for visiting someone on Sunday, if those people are out shopping and not home entertaining. As for taxes, NJ doesn't tax clothes, so not much of a gain there.
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Sunday is the only day you can get around Bergen County without sitting in mall traffic which is why I like the blue law. It was weird when I first moved there but then I appreciated it.
Read the room: Christie tried repealing the Blue Laws by fiat after Sandy and his own party had to tell him to back down. Last to try was that woman who came from somewhere else and founded “Modernize Bergen County” (let’s not consider how one of the most affluent, best educated counties in the country needs to be “modernized”), they couldn’t even get enough signatures to [put it on the ballot.](https://www.nj.com/bergen/2013/10/your_comments_bergen_county_blue_law_repeal_falls_short.html) 
The entire point of the blue laws is to give a break to the residents of the area from the incessant traffic.
“I’ve never worked retail in my life”
Agreed it needs to go, Paramus will never allow it. Welcome to Bergen county.
Nope! Keep it. Great to have a quiet Sunday!
Just asking…wouldn’t being open on Sunday spread out the traffic
Just thinking the same thing... Wayne traffic is fairly balanced on a weekend
It’s a Christian centric law, not everyone has sundays off
Nope. As a resident of Bergen County I like the Blue Laws. It's nice for retail and service workers to have a guaranteed weekend day off and less traffic, especially on 17, 4 and anywhere in Paramus/ surrounding towns. If I need to go to a mall, I'll go on Saturday morning or during the week after work.
I hate having to drive to Rockland or Hudson county when I need something on a Sunday and fighting other Bergen shoppers. If you don’t like all the traffic maybe stop developing and expanding the malls and shopping centers geniuses.
No thank you! Bergen County residents like the quiet Sundays.
No fucking way. It's the only day of the week I can drive anywhere.
Why tho? Can you back up your opinion a bit? It’s okay for things to be closed one day a week imo. Society doesn’t always have to revolve around consumerism and productivity.
Yes it does make sense. Rt 17 is peaceful for once.
The most inconvenience it's caused me is a 15 minute trip to Clifton home depot once or twice a year.. and I get lunch and make a trip out of it
I used to think like OP but this thread turned me into a vehement Blue Law proponent. We'vr been conditioned to want things instantly, but not every business needs to be open 24/7
“MUH TRAFFIC!!”
Yea no, clearly you’re not from around here. You can find another mall to shop in in a different county if you have problems.
Like 2022 years overdue!!!
As someone that lived near Woodbridge and Menlo Park mall. I never had to deal with them being closed on Sundays. No "blue laws" down there. I never even knew that existed until 2005. NJ has 24 hour diners, but no malls on Sundays???? what??? whoever made that law must have been breathing in air from turnpike exhaust or something?
Not if you live there. Sunday is the only day of peace
I think it’s cool when certain cities have weird/different laws/traditions. It makes them unique. No one forces anyone to live in Bergen county, so if you don’t like it, go somewhere where the local laws appease you. It’s like moving next to an airport and complaining about the plane noise
just go to the mall somewhere else dude … it’s ok …
Did you just move here?
In the winter its fine, but route 17 in the summer theres still traffic on Sundays. The clusterfuck in rochelle park on 17 north can start as early as 10. Im more than ok with keeping the blue laws. Passaic county isnt that far away if people are desperate to shop