Remember When

Quote: DRich

I only remember Blue Laws as they applied to liquor. For many years, maybe still, New car dealers were closed on Sunday in Nevada but it wasn't by law, just an agreement between the dealers.
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All new and used car dealers are still closed around here on Sunday but I've been told it's more of a banking issue than anything else. You can't do anything with loans or anything monetary when the banks are closed. People do a lot of car shopping at the lots on Sunday with no buying.

Quote: DRich

I only remember Blue Laws as they applied to liquor. For many years, maybe still, New car dealers were closed on Sunday in Nevada but it wasn't by law, just an agreement between the dealers.
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Maybe 15 years ago, I remember a lot of the places we travelled for business, you couldn't order an alcoholic drink in a restaurant on a Sunday.

These weren't mystical faraway lands, but places like South Carolina. A quick check shows this might still be the case.

In 1961 I started junior high and my parents started giving me an allowance of $5 a week. This was a tremendous windfall for a kid in 1961. You could still buy comic books for 10 cents, you could buy so much candy you couldn't eat it all, not that I did anyway. You could still buy most paperback books for 35 cents each. At my school library used paperbacks cost a nickel. Soft drinks out of a machine cost 10 cents. In 1961 you could see a movie and buy a ton of concession candy for a dollar. I was hard pressed to spend that $5 and I actually started saving money up. I felt rich most of the time.

Quote: DRich

I only remember Blue Laws as they applied to liquor. For many years, maybe still, New car dealers were closed on Sunday in Nevada but it wasn't by law, just an agreement between the dealers.
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I remember when every barber shop had his union card displayed and it said "Closed Mondays" and usually also Sunday, because closing Monday was the union rule.

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Quote: DRich

I only remember Blue Laws as they applied to liquor. For many years, maybe still, New car dealers were closed on Sunday in Nevada but it wasn't by law, just an agreement between the dealers.
link to original post

I remember when every barber shop had his union card displayed and it said "Closed Mondays" and usually also Sunday, because closing Monday was the union rule.
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I still go to the same barber I went to in 1961 only it's his son that runs it now. It's a very small building that he built in 1950 and it was totally paid for and he owned the land so he was always his own boss no matter what the economy was doing he was always going to flourish. In those days barbers and TV repairman were notorious for paying as a little as possible on their income tax because they were in a total cash business. The old barbers son I've known since he was a kid and that place is always packed from morning till night everyday except Sunday and Monday. He makes a fortune and I'm sure he's still circumvents a lot of the taxes. The TV repair guy said a couple times a year the IRS would show up as soon as he opened in the morning and stay there the entire day going through his books. The books he gave him that he kept for the IRS, the real books nobody ever saw. And he raised 12 kids and supported a wife on a TV repair shop.

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: DRich

I only remember Blue Laws as they applied to liquor. For many years, maybe still, New car dealers were closed on Sunday in Nevada but it wasn't by law, just an agreement between the dealers.
link to original post

All new and used car dealers are still closed around here on Sunday but I've been told it's more of a banking issue than anything else. You can't do anything with loans or anything monetary when the banks are closed. People do a lot of car shopping at the lots on Sunday with no buying.
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I have bought cars on Sunday. Just paid and did the paperwork during the week. I think Tiffany said the same about their jewelry stores.

Even in the 80s almost all dealers closed early on Wed, it was a night the salesmen could go home early. Dealers that bucked that system had little traffic because everyone thought all dealers were closed. I was told that was a thing GM started and others followed.

I encountered wacky blue laws even in the 90's. One was Aiken, SC, where they closed half of the (24 hr) Walmart at exactly midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning. You could still buy groceries and other essentials, but all the other sections of the store were dark and roped off.

Somewhere in Alabama, we entered a county where it was illegal to possess a cold alcoholic beverage in public, even if it was unopened! Stores could sell beer, but it was warm; they weren't allowed to put it in the cooler cases!

I haven't been back to either of these places since; so I have no idea if these laws are still on the books.