BOSTON (AP) - There'll be no last-minute shopping for turkeys or trimmings on Thanksgiving Day in Massachusetts.
The state has warned the upscale Whole Foods supermarket chain that it will risk criminal charges under the state's centuries-old ``blue laws'' if it goes ahead with plans to open on the holiday.
The office of Attorney General Thomas Reilly issued a legal opinion after officials at a Whole Foods competitor, Shaw's Supermarkets, wrote him a letter asking him to block the opening, The Boston Globe reported.
David Lannon, president of Whole Foods Market's North Atlantic Region, said the chain has scrapped the Thanksgiving openings at its 14 state stores.
``We're not going to break the law, he said. ``If the blue law says we'll have to be closed, we have to be closed.''
Many of the state's Puritan-era blue laws, passed in the 1600s to keep colonists at home or in church on Sundays, have been repealed, such as a ban of liquor sales on Sundays. But one that remains in effect requires all stores, except convenience stores and gas stations, to close on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.
Some Whole Foods stores in the state had opened on Thanksgiving Day in the past after obtaining special permits from cities and towns and were mobbed by last-minute shoppers.
``It's for people after they're done shopping on Tuesday or Wednesday who say 'Ooh, I need more butter or another bunch of celery,''' Lannon said.
Shaw's, which has 200 stores in New England, complained to Reilly after some of its employees spotted a banner advertising a Thanksgiving Day opening at a Whole Foods in Bellingham.
``Besides disadvantaging competitors, a Whole Foods opening would harm consumers, due to lack of choice in the marketplace for consumers to shop and compare prices for the best deal,'' Shaw's legal department wrote to Reilly on Nov. 4.
Nick Messuri, chief of Reilly's business and labor protection bureau, said that while the blue laws sound archaic, they protect workers from pressure to give up their holidays.
Lannon said working on Thanksgiving was voluntary and workers would have received double pay.
As for consumers, Jeff Orlinski, 26, of Hingham, was irked that the local Whole Foods wouldn't be open.
``What if you need something at the last-minute?'' he asked. ``What happens if your stuffing gets burned?''
"If the blue laws say we can't be open, etc...." he left out "and the state plans to ENFORCE them"
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, he'd better not let his wife carry her cocktail from the bar to her seat or spit on the sidewalk.
Blue laws are so wacky...here in TX, you can't buy liquour on Sundays, but you can buy beer or wine, but only after 11am. I used to do my grocery shopping on Sunday mornings and finally changed to another day because I'd get pissed off because they wouldn't see me the 12 pack of Corona I had with my $100 worth of other groceries. Goddamn religious wackos screwing it up for everyone!
ReplyDeleteTo answer the question, "what if you need something at the last minute? and what happens if your stuffing gets burned"...You plan ahead and do without. It's not a crisis worth keeping a store open. I miss the days when stores didnt open on Sunday, or if they did it was only between 1 and 6..I miss the days when Stores and businesses closed for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New years.
ReplyDeleteAs you might expect, I can see both sides of the blue law issue.
ReplyDeleteOne side of me remembers when Sundays and holidays were non-retail days. It was pleasant and refreshing, but also quite boring.
I guess a lot of people have families that meet at normal times during the day to celebrate together, but my family doesn't get togeter until late in the day. Then a lot of people don't have families nearby or chose not to hang out with them. So what do you do all day?
Add to this the perils of holiday cooking. We're straight up the cooking disaster capital of this area, at least in my own mind we are. There have been many cases where I or members of my family have forgotten (or burned) some pretty major holiday things and had to run back out to the store. And soemtimes the things we screw up can't be fixed by the 7-Eleven.
OK, so I'm rambling. My point is that people should be allowed to get their groceries or whatever any time they want, provided that someone's willing to sell them to them. The limits are abitrary, subjective and silly even in context. Not to mention the selective enforcement.
If you have to bend a law just to make people happy, it's time to bring the law back to the forefront and see if it can be modified or eliminated. That's my view.
This whole being open holidays and sundays fustrates me. We don't need it. Working it while having kids and a family isnt fun. (and that is what we force many to do by some saying stores should be open. While in the article Whole foods say that it was optional, most places do not make it optional, but manditory. ) We do not have to have accessability to food and stuff at the "stuff mart" all the time. That is just brainwashing that has occured as folks have now become accustomed to it. It never hurt anyone to be bored for a few hours IMO.
ReplyDeleteGoodness, I am old enough to remember when TV even went off the air for a few hours each day and nothing was on.
I definately see where you're coming from on this. People with families and obligations should't be forced to work on holidays.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a long time to figure out why my retail chain wasn't tracking any POS on Sundays anywhere on the east coast. My boss finally scratched his head and said, "well, they must be closed due to those blue laws." Way to screw with good data ye ole laws!!
ReplyDelete~Carrie =)
I remember when the blue laws in my part of Virginioa broke in 1989 or so. You'd have thought the world was coming to an end :-)
ReplyDelete