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Saturday, September 4, 2010
From today's Star: on the repeal of "Blue Laws"
I had to post this--partly because it was so easy to overlook in today's paper and partly because it was fairly remarkable. Remember "Blue Laws"? The name of laws that outlawed shopping on Sundays? Remember those and how we did away with them here in Missouri, decades ago? Apparetnly someone studied these closely and they have come up with the following data: Church versus Sunday shopping: US Christian women have grown unhappier since stores have stayed open on Sundays, says a study by Israel's Ben Gurion University and Chicago's DePaul University. Data from states that repealed laws restricting Sunday commerce also revealed lower church attendance for white women and an increase in drinking and drug use. I have to ask how they can be certain of cause and effect here? It seems they're assuming the shopping possibility causes the bad feelings and other effects. I thought it both funny and possibly, likely presumptuous. Anyway, have a great weekend, y'all. It's beautiful out there.
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2 comments:
I was in retail on the Kansas side in the waning days of the blue laws. Worked at the Mission Spartan Dept store (discount store predating Kmart) running a register on weekends when I was up here from college. I had a ten thousand dollar register every Sunday and that was a lot of money in the mid sixties! Long lines. There was another Spartans over near Swope Pkwy or 63rd as I remember. But it was closed on Sundays... this before Kmart and Walmart.
All those Missouri people just came over to Kansas and shopped til they dropped.
Lots of MoMoney being spent over in KS. French Market was packed on Sundays at 95th and Metcalf--built by the late Ed H. Young in about 1963 ... he owned Riverside Red X which remains today, run by his son. (If you've never gone over to Riverside to see Red X, you should. Slightly sleezy but lots of history in there. And prices are great.
I suppose they got rid of the Mo Blue Laws because border city retailers were losing their asses on Sunday!
Yeah, I think there are a great deal of us who have different stories from that "Blue Law" era if we were around.
I lived in St. Joseph and we drove down to Metcalf 103 at least once because they were open--partly for the entertainment, partly, yes, to end up spending a bit of money.
That $10,000.00 spent on a Sunday? That would even be a good amount today. You can imagine what it was back then, 50 years ago. (That hurt to say--50 years).
Anyway, you know that's exactly why the MO Blue Laws were changed--retailers and even the state didn't want to miss out on any further retail sales and all that tax revenue.
C'est la vie.
mr
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