Are you old enuff to remember when all stores closed on Sunday?

[bobbieinok]

[Lithos]

1. Yes

Though we had one store, Academy, which infamously closed Saturday to be open on Sunday.

[underpants]

30. Jerry Jones - Dallas Cowboys owner- tells a story of his father becoming a 7th Day Adventist

So he could close on Saturdays and be the only store open on Sunday.

His dad was pre-Walmart but he had housewares and basically anything you'd need in his store.

[RKP5637]

2. And also Wednesdays at 1:00PM in some places. n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Yes. Hardly anyone worked on Sunday. I recall even grocery stores and gas stations closed.

[Delmette2.0]

11. My Dad had a gas station for many years.

The local police knew they could call him to open up if someone was desperate for gas to get somewhere.

[dameatball]

4. Yep. Our only grocery store and the small department store both were closed on Sunday.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Yes.

[enough]

6. I live in an area where most stores and many restaurants are closed on Sunday.

Southeastern Pennsylvania near the Chester/Lancaster County line. Everything to the west of us is closed on Sunday, everything to the east is open.

[tymorial]

7. Yup.

It really wasnt that long ago here in RI

[Hoyt]

8. Yep, Blue Laws.

[Major Nikon]

20. Still have them in Texas

[GP6971]

9. Everything in our area

was closed on Sunday with the exception of our lone pharmacy. Our parents took us to the mall parking lots to teach us how to drive and park.

[raging moderate]

10. I am 71, from Chicago. Nope. There were always some stores open.

After we moved into a neighborhood with more Jewish than Gentile inhabitants, some stores were closed on Saturday and open on Sunday. Most stores, however, had employees of several religions, so they kind of spelled each other to keep the stores open every day. Even before that, in early childhood, I remember most large stores being open on Sunday, with the little ones mostly closed.

[bobbieinok]

12. And then later IIRC with great fanfare stores stayed open late on Thursday

[KY_EnviroGuy]

13. Yes, the only thing open was church.

Blue laws throughout most of my state (TN). Everyone mostly rested or socialized on Sunday, with lots of great country dinners.

I wish we could return to those days, just so society can collectively have an occasional emotional break.

[bobbieinok]

15. Don't know how we survived without going to a restaurant after church!

It still amazes me that the people who so wanted stores closed on Sunday are the ones who run to a restaurant after church!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

17. Guess I'm showing my age and country nature, but..

where I came from, almost every family cooked a big dinner after church. And, all the preacher's families always got invited to someone's house for Sunday dinner. Afterwards, folks socialized, took naps, did some reading or maybe went fishing. I also remember my grandma sitting in her rocker reading her Bible.

A lot of those attitudes came from church teachings that is was a sin to work on Sunday, a day of rest. Therefore, businesses that considered opening on Sunday were frowned on.

It was very rare for people to eat in restaurants back then and it was considered a very special treat! Food came from local farms or tiny local-owned grocery stores.

For me, those were the good times.......

[underpants]

29. My wife's Baptist preacher once opened the sermon with this

"Okay, I'll make this quick so we can beat the Methodists to the buffets"

Seriously

[MyOwnPeace]

14. And............

here in western PA the Pirate baseball games had to end at 7:00 on Sunday, and "Deacon" Vernon Law would not pitch on a Sunday (Morman elder).
In 1969 I was washing my brand new car one Sunday afternoon and my mother gave me royal hell!!!!

[safeinOhio]

16. It's Gods Commandment.

The Ten Commandments/Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.


Depending on which God or no God you follow today.

[CousinIT]

18. Yep. n/t

[Wellstone ruled]

19. Common practice yet today through out Utah.

Only National Chain Operators are open. Locally owned Restaurants near the National Parks
might be open.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. Yes. Some gas stations and restaurants were open but everything else was closed.

It was assumed everybody would be at church. In Minnesota it became legal for liquor stores to open on Sunday just this year.

[rurallib]

22. Well, not where I lived, but other towns down the road would be locked up tight

I was always surprised when we went for a drive and would get into some town where we could even get a bottle of pop.

[SoCalDem]

23. and when banks were closed at 3PM

and no booze sold in grocery stores..beer locked up on Sundays

[betsuni]

24. I remember my mother having a fit when stores began to do business on Sunday.

Because Jesus wouldn't shop on Sundays or whatever. Ridiculous.

[bif]

25. And no hard liquor sales. Beer and wine after noon.

Here in Michigan.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

26. And barber shops closed on Monday...

Union rules.

[MaryMagdaline]

27. I remember last call in bars was 12:00 Saturday night

This was in Georgia. No alcohol sales on Sunday.

[underpants]

28. Yep. Blue Laws. The Big Star grocery store and Roses were the only thing open

Other than gas stations. Not sure if they could sell beer (I was too young) but Virginia ABC stored didn't open on Sundays until 2012.

Speaking of beer - I remember at my very first real job, bagging groceries at a Winn-Dixie, the lunch crowd used to come in and get a lunch at the deli in styrofoam boxes and grab a beer to go with it. Whole work crews WITH their boss. Those remaining loose beers were our weekend stash in the weeds out back. I didn't steal them but I knew who did.

[Fla Dem]

31. Absolutely, and most stores closed at 6:00pm. Downtowns were pretty much deserted after 6:00. nt

[JDC]

32. Car dealers still closed on Sunday in CO.

It wasn't until about 10 years ago liquor stores also.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

33. I remember carrying liquor in a brown bag to S.C. restaurants.

Under South Carolina law restaurants couldn't serve alcohol, so what you did was "brown bag" it -- bring you own booze and then pay the establishment for a non-alcoholic mixer which costs about as much as a mixed drink elsewhere.

When the Yankees started invading Charleston for the annual Spoleto Arts Festival they were aghast at the practice. I haven't been to S.C. in decades, but I think the law has been changed.

I also remember there was a list of other non-alcoholic items that couldn't be sold on Sunday. You'd go into a store and find row after row covered by white sheets. That practice has changed.