Black Friday shopping has taken over Thanksgiving Day in recent years, with retailers nationwide beginning their major sales earlier and earlier. This year, major stores like Macy's, Walmart and Target will open their doors for shoppers on the night of Thanksgiving before they even have time to digest that turkey and cranberry sauce.
However, if you live in Maine, Massachusetts or Rhode Island, you're just going to have to wait until the stroke of midnight on Nov. 28 when Black Friday officially begins to get your shopping on. Why? It's the law.
There are blue laws, old regulations that prohibit certain activities, in these states that ban retailers from opening on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The laws date back to the 17th century as a way to get people to attend church on Sundays and holidays, according to The Huffington Post. In the past, these Footloose-like laws prohibited dancing and the sale of alcohol on Sundays. In 2005, the Massachusetts attorney general at the time Thomas F. Reilly "issued reprimands and threatened to file criminal charges against retailers" open on Thanksgiving, according to The Boston Globe.
"We haven't really been under pressure to change the laws here," the President of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts Jon B. Hurst, told The Huffington Post. "Frankly, it wouldn't be my cup of tea to go out on Thanksgiving night and shop. I'd rather watch football."
However, there's always the possibility that residents of Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island could travel to nearby states on Thanksgiving to get their early Black Friday shopping on. If it's the case and people are actually doing this, this should be strong evidence for the state legislatures to do away with these blue laws in order to have their economies benefit even more from the biggest shopping days of the year.
"We know those stores are busy on Thursday night," Hurst also told The Huffington Post. "So it raises the question: Are Massachusetts blue laws stopping consumers from shopping? Or are they just stopping them from shopping in Massachusetts?"
However, Hurst's previous quote brings up what many people are starting to think about retailers that open on Thanksgiving, that the holiday should be a day off spent with family, not elbowing people out of the way so you can score a sweet deal in stores. The Westfield Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, Conn. sparked some outrage even outside of the state when a memo from the mall's managers requiring stores to remain open from 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving until 10 p.m. on Black Friday was leaked. Some retailers have even acknowledged this backlash and are purposely not opening on Thanksgiving, such as Nordstrom, Gamestop and Barnes & Noble.
Though there's a good argument for both sides, it doesn't look like the blue laws in these states will be overturned any time soon. New Englanders, you better make Black Friday count.
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