Blue laws..past and present..

Recently I moved from Virginia to Colorado. Yesterday I went to the supermarket out here ( King Soopers/Kroger ) in search of Icehouse beer. My roommate who moved out here with me from Virginia loves that stuff. Anyway imagine my surprise when I was told that you can't buy "ice beer" such as Icehouse or Bud Ice in Denver or anywhere in the state. From what King Soopers told me, it was due to the higher alcohol content ice beer has than other beers, it cant be sold, even in liquor stores. They brought up the "blue law" angle. Very odd!! Well my roommate did bring up the Coors bit saying maybe Coors being as big as they are in Colorado maybe they do NOT want that stuff sold here.

After hearing this, made me remember of all the old blue laws that used to be commomplace and some still are in effect. Like in West Virginia, if you live in that state you can't buy fireworks within that state's borders but if you are from out-of-state, you can buy fireworks in West Virginia.

My hometown in Virginia, back in the 70s you could not buy clothes on Sunday ( that law was dropped by the mid 70s ).

My neighbor says that it is illegal to buy a car in Wisconsin on Sundays. Having never been to that state can't confirm that of course.

any other past/present blue laws?

I remember that in Connecticut, no stores could be open on Sundays. And bars couldn't sell booze if they did not have hot food available. Also, women were not permitted at the bar. The only women allowed at the bar were waitresses who were placing orders and picking up orders to be taken to tables. Another law that I loved was the prohibition on the selling of anything other than liquor in liquor stores, called package stores, including mixers such as club soda. Also, liquor stores could not allow anyone to use a telephone in the store.

I live in NOLA....it's ALL good! ha! Here you can buy crown royal, kahlua, vodka and any other drink of choice at any grocery store, walmart, kmart or drug store. Land where it's legal to walk the streets (Bourbon) with alcohol as long as it's in a Go Cup and walk up Daiquiri shacks every where. Alcohol 24/7, even on Sundays and bars never close. But we gotta cause of all the people that come here because they can't have fun without drinking obviously.

In Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Indiana, Virginia, Massachusetts and Louisiana it's illegal to buy a self pleasuring device that requires batteries. You can get 5 to 10 years!

The laws are changing, probably as we post these notes, but for a long time there was no Sunday Sales of Hard Liquor in either Kentucky or Indiana. I never paid any attention to the laws for wine as I rarely buy it.

Beer however was interesting... In Indiana, there was no Sunday Sales period. The refrigerated glass cases where the beer was displayed in convenience stores had shades pulled down and they were locked to prevent access. In Kentucky beer could be sold on Sunday AFTER NOON. I never did understand the relationship of the NOON restriction to sales, but thats how it was.
I am not sure about the current laws, other than I am sure they have loosened up a bit. There are still several DRY COUNTIES in Kentucky, but Indiana does not have the 'County Option' that Kentucky Enjoys.

Have any of you ever purchased the Mylar wraps that look like Coke or Pepsi labels and are intended to be wrapped around a beer can to disguise its true contents. They are sold by the gross in the Dry Counties so that folks out for a picnic at a park can drink their beer without causing a problem with the DRY Law.

I lived and worked in a Dry County in Kentucky for a couple of years. My neighbor was a Bootlegger who ran a complete Liquor Store in his Garage. The whole concept of illegal booze was an interesting operation for those of us who had never seen that sort of "ignore the law" as part of a community's daily life. Interesting cultural custom, I think.

Texas repealed the blue laws in the mid 80s. Before that you couldn't buy some items such as hardware, appliances or clothes on Sundays. You could buy nails but not a hammer to pound them in with. Sage Dept. stores started opening on Sundays and slowly everyone else did also. There were not many challenges or enforcement of the laws and they finally did away with them. We still cannot buy distilled spirits on Sunday but we can buy beer and wine after 12 noon. We could not buy Coors beer south of Dallas until about the early 80s, but I think I remember that having to do more with the unions than the law.

joe

I remember a time on Long Island when Sundays meant EVERYTHING was closed. Kind of peaceful...

Now, I'm thrilled that I can buy a bottle of wine on Sunday.

In Covington (it might be Newport) Kentucky they evidently had a problem they needed to deal with.
The responsible members of the community must have had had enough and made sure the trespassers knew it and said so.
To this very day you best tread lightly on a Sunday, if you intend to keep an ice cream cone in your pocket!

Ch4is,

I've lived in Colorado for 40 years, and yup, no liquor sales on Sunday, and the car dealerships are closed.

However, I really don't think Coors has anything to do with the sale of ice beer.

In Michigan it goes by county...some are absolutely dry still (although I believe the last of those might have finally gone away in the last election). Used to be you couldn't by any alcohol on Sundays, then it went to only beer and wine sales. Although it's been years since I've wanted to buy alcohol on Sundays I believe you can now.

The one that always trips people up is there are no alcohol sales of any kind from 7pm Christmas Eve until 7am the day after Christmas. If you didn't stock up beforehand, it sucks to be you.

When I managed at OG in Boone County KY, we could not sell liquor or wine on sunday, but we could sell Malted Beverages after 12pm. So we stocked Seagrams Malt Beverage Coolers, instead of wine coolers.

Yet in Kenton County, less than 4 miles away you could purchase any 3 way item you wanted on Sunday.

In Indiana NO SUNDAY sales unless you sell X amount of $$$$ in food.

Closed (NO SALES) on election day until after the polls are closed.

Closed (NO SALES) on Christmas Day, Thansgiving Day.

Can't buy Alcohol over the internet, and have it mailed to Indiana, this includes truffles with alcohol in them.

That last one sucked, I got hooked on pineapple wine from my last visit to Hawaii, but could not buy it and have it shipped to me.

quote:

Originally posted by BhamBabe

I live in NOLA....it's ALL good! ha! Here you can buy crown royal, kahlua, vodka and any other drink of choice at any grocery store, walmart, kmart or drug store. Land where it's legal to walk the streets (Bourbon) with alcohol as long as it's in a Go Cup and walk up Daiquiri shacks every where. Alcohol 24/7, even on Sundays and bars never close. But we gotta cause of all the people that come here because they can't have fun without drinking obviously.

In Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Indiana, Virginia, Massachusetts and Louisiana it's illegal to buy a self pleasuring device that requires batteries. You can get 5 to 10 years!

Indiana finally came out of the stone ages, we even have a sex shop just up the road from us.

It is owned by my 5th grade music teacher, I always thought she was hiding a darker side.

I was driving down I-77 from Akron Ohio to Charlotte, NC several years ago. It was about 5:00PM and it was my cocktail time and I had a desiginated driver. We were in West Virginia somewhere and we stopped and an exit where liquor was available. I ask for some Canadian. I was informed that it was election day and liquor could not be served but he asked if I would like some marijuana instead??? Go figure.

I did not buy. I did not have a cocktail either.

Paul E. Smith.
Knoxville, TN

Pennsylvania was BIG on blue laws. No liquor sold on Sundays. No retail on Sundays. No NUTHIN on Sundays......just church. Same with South Boston. Everything closed on Sunday. Go to church! Of course things have changed in both places and now everything is OPEN on Sunday. I guess they all abandoned the "Go to church" and replaced it with "Let's stay open and make money"!

After my first experience with the Blue laws in the East I got a chuckle out of returning to SoCal where they sell hard liquor on display stands by the gas pumps at convenience stores at 5 am on a Sunday...or any other day ! The first section you enter in many SoCal Supermarkets is not the Veggie or Bakery as it is back here... It is the hard Liquor and wine stacks!

Tennessee is stil no liquor on Sunday and beer after noon. In addition you cannot buy anything in a liquor store except liquor. I do not understand that.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Mayor, I did a reverse of that many years ago. I grew up in NY; others have already mentioned the local blue laws.
But during 10 years in California, I became accustomed to buying alcoholic beverages at the supermarket.
Flash forward: we move back to NY. First time in the supermarket, I can't find the liquor aisle. So I go and find a manager, and ask him "Where's the liquor?"
He looks at me as only a New Yorker can look at a "Californian" and says, "Down the street- in the liquor store".

There are a few counties in West Virginia where its illegal to sell video tape head cleaner in stores that carries adult films. I believe its called the "popper law". As in people buying the stuff only to sniff and get a buzz.

Yes, there was a time in Virginia when you could not buy clothes on Sunday ( but you could buy cigarettes, guess to make Phillp Morris happy ). As I recall the only exception to that rule was Virginia Beach and that was strictly limited to the oceranfront gift stores. Once you go more inland and see the malls there ( Lynnhaven, Pembroke and Military Circle ) there were closed as well as the usual K-Mart and other stores.

One of the more stranger so-called blue laws was in my husband's area. No "news" on Sundays. That was the case for decades. No newspaper is published on sundays ( to this day despite all the growth there, still isn't ). Not only that but the local radio stations carried no local news on Sunday, other than network news. Even their local TV station until about 10 years, offered a Saturday newscast
but no news on Sunday. I think its even the case today. Reason for it I was told goes back to the local newspaper which is owned by a very conservative family. "Sunday is a day of rest, no news shall be published". Why the other local media there felt they should follow that rule for decades, to this day is a mystery.

As of Oct 2006 in Indiana you still could not buy carry out beer, wine, or liquor on Sunday, however you can drink in restaurants on Sundays, bars only are all closed.

Also in Indiana grocery stores can not sell cold beer, only warm, and liquor stores cannot sell cold soda pop,only warm .

Also as of Oct 2006 in Indiana you still could not buy a car from a dealer on Sunday.

In my new home, Washington State, alcohol of any kind cannot be served at what I always called " strip joints " (topless dancer places).

quote:

Originally posted by rongmtek

Mayor, I did a reverse of that many years ago. I grew up in NY; others have already mentioned the local blue laws.
But during 10 years in California, I became accustomed to buying alcoholic beverages at the supermarket.
Flash forward: we move back to NY. First time in the supermarket, I can't find the liquor aisle. So I go and find a manager, and ask him "Where's the liquor?"
He looks at me as only a New Yorker can look at a "Californian" and says, "Down the street- in the liquor store".

that's funny... like when I asked a local coffee shop (NJ)if they had fresh sqeezed orange juice. The old timer waitress looked at me and said "You think you're in Florida or something?!?" (actually, I had just gotten back from Florida)

One can spend tons of time looking at all the different wine selections at the California supermarkets. I was at a Ralphs supermarket in the LA area a few weeks back, and once again, was overwhelmed. I had'nt even been thinking of WINE, but all of a sudden, I WAS ..

Here in Ma. they recently relaxed the Sunday sale law.
Now sales are allowed only after high noon on a Sunday. For many years before this recent change the only place you could purchase alcohol was within 10mi. of the N.H. border. To the legislators credit though this was relaxed during the holidays between Thanksgiving and New Year.

Currently there are no sales allowed on Memmorial day or Thanksgiving.
You still can't buy an automobile on Sunday here, but I'm sure that's only a matter of time.
It wasn't untill the 80s that you couldn't operate a viecule with commercial plates between midnight Sat. and midnight Sunday unless hauling pereshibles such as milk etc.

We have a lack of real brew pubs here because you can't sell beer for off premise consumption in a pub or bar. Therefor it's not profitable enough for the investment needed for the equipment. There are a few but everything must be consumed there, no growlers. Chow Jim

I think in Bergen County New Jersey blue laws still exist whereby all shopping malls must remain closed on Sunday. About 10 years ago, a referendum was drafted to rescind these laws, but the residents of the county voted overwhelmingly to keep the laws as is.

North Carolina-
All the hard stuff is sold ONLY in state owned stores...ABC stores, slightly expensive and not open on Sundays. The selection is pretty limited also.

Beer and wine are not to be sold between 0100 and 0700. We still have a few dry counties in the state.

Ivey's department store would pull down curtains to cover the window displays on Sundays. They went through a few owners since then and are now owned by Macy's...no problem w/ Sunday shopping now.

South Carolina-
NO alcohol is sold on Sunday except in a very few places and then only in restaurants.

One comical point about Tennessee...Jack Daniels is in a dry county...can't buy the most famous product of the county in that county.

V960:
One comical point about Tennessee...Jack Daniels is in a dry county...can't buy the most famous product of the county in that county.

V960: You can buy the commerative stuff in their gift shop. They started doing that several years ago. I do not know how they arranged that.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Not quite about blue laws, but sort of on-topic:
Our daughter worked summer stock in Brunswick, Maine for a few years during college. Driving up from the lower Hudson Valley, we were surprised the first time we saw New Hampshire's huge state-run liquor stores right along the highway. Easy on, easy off. Easy right off the road, I guess.
Ron

WV, no alcohol on Sunday until after noon. No alcohol sold on Christmas eve or day or New Years day. Used to be state run stores for the hard stuff. Is now in limited amount of liquor stores. Although there are bars every half mile or less.

Calif., no alcohol between 0200 and 0600 every day of the week. Grocery stores, Costco, 7-11 can all sell the hard stuff with a license. I sure miss the Costco prices on booze, especially Don Patron Tequila.

MikeS.

I guess life here is pretty good, you can't buy a car on Sunday in Illinois but anything else is good to go. My town recently changed their liqour law and you can buy anywhere in town from 9 am until 11pm on a Sunday, it used to be noon. Some of the local towns used to make the supermarkets seperate the liquor department by a wall and have a seperate register but that's changed and the liquor is in a regular aisle now.

quote:

Originally posted by V960

North Carolina-
All the hard stuff is sold ONLY in state owned stores...ABC stores, slightly expensive and not open on Sundays. The selection is pretty limited also.

Beer and wine are not to be sold between 0100 and 0700. We still have a few dry counties in the state.

Ivey's department store would pull down curtains to cover the window displays on Sundays. They went through a few owners since then and are now owned by Macy's...no problem w/ Sunday shopping now.

South Carolina-
NO alcohol is sold on Sunday except in a very few places and then only in restaurants.

One comical point about Tennessee...Jack Daniels is in a dry county...can't buy the most famous product of the county in that county.

V

is SC still a no pour state??

Do they still use those cute little sample size bottles.?

Made for some realllllly drunk days at Edisto Beach

Ohio:

1. Sunday sales available in some precincts, if the voters said it was OK. If so:
2. Beer available only after 5:30 Sunday morning.
3. Wine available only after 1 p.m. Sunday.
4. Liquor is now available in non-state-owned stores, but very, very few can sell on Sunday. And only a few will take credit cards, for which there is an additional $1.00 fee.

SC finally rescinded that little "airline bottle" rule, but I think booze is still a no-no on Sunday. In Ottawa County, Michigan, you can't (at least as of last summer) have beer or wine on Sunday in a restaurant, but hard liquor is OK. Lots of KY bourbon is made in dry counties (Garrard and Bourbon counties spring to mind). I had a shower for a friend's daughter in Harrodsburg, KY, and was allowed to bring in a case of wine for my guests, which the restaurant opened and poured. When we lived in Wisconsin, you had to ask the pharmacist for aspirin, but other painrelievers like acetominaphen were available on the shelf. It may be different now; I haven't lived there in years.

Dunno if it's blue-law related or what, but down here in central LA (Alexandria, etc) the biggest majority of the "seafood places" are closed on Sunday & Monday!?! Alcohol service (or not) doesn't seem to be a factor. Granted, the closed places are usually local-owned & operated (as opposed to chains), but if you want good seafood on Sunday/Monday you better be prepared to cook it yourself!