They Shall Not Grow Old

[Amor de Cosmos]

Heh! It was only seven years ago, ya bugger.

[Sporting]

I remember dry Sundays in North Wales.

[ursus arctos]

Were shops open?

When I was at university in Massachusetts, one couldn't buy light bulbs, brooms and other items associated with household "work" on Sundays. The local supermarket closed the relevant aisle with chains.

[Gangster Octopus]

Very few shops were open on a Sunday throughout the UK.

[Hot Pepsi]

Were shops open?

When I was at university in Massachusetts, one couldn't buy light bulbs, brooms and other items associated with household "work" on Sundays. The local supermarket closed the relevant aisle with chains.

I never heard of such a thing, but Massachusetts is weird. Some Puritan traditions hang around. I'm not sure if that was still true in the 90s, but then I don't recall ever shopping for such items on a Sunday.

I could imagine stores in Brookline doing that, but on Saturday, not Sunday.

[San Bernardhinault]

If I remember right, there's some weird puritan reason that only two Trader Joe's in Boston can sell wine.

[Hot Pepsi]

If I remember right, there's some weird puritan reason that only two Trader Joe's in Boston can sell wine.

Well, liquor laws are weird in a lot of states, but especially Massachusetts. I don't know how much that has to do with Puritan tradition so much as different business constituencies lobbying to keep out competition. When I lived there, they were trying to make it possible for grocery stores to sell wine and there was a big "think of the children!" campaign against it led by the stores that had the monopoly on wine sales.

It's the same in PA. Our Trader Joes, for example, doesn't sell wine. Yet. That may change eventually because the rules have been loosened lately after intense lobbying by the convenience store and grocery store lobbies. More and more convenience stores are starting to sell beer and a few supermarkets sell beer and wine. But they still have to go through a convoluted process to get a "cafe" license. The state stores still have a monopoly on hard liquor and still mostly control wine.

Until recently, if you wanted a case of beer or keg, you have to go to a "distributor," but distributors could not sell smaller quantities like a six pack. Only bottle shops, which were/are usually connected to a bar/restaurant, could do that. That has changed recently - distributors can sell six packs and some convenience and grocery stores can sell cases and six packs.

And the laws are much more friendly to small breweries and distilleries than they used to be.

[ursus arctos]

There is a law in New York City that prohibits any individual or entity from owning more than one retail liquor license.

As a result, only one Trader Joe's here can sell wine.

The light bulb ban in 1970s Cambridge was indeed the then-extant manifestation of "blue laws" that had first appeared on the 17th century.

[Lang Spoon]

Very few shops were open on a Sunday throughout the UK.

Scotland, despite traditionally being more frothing religious than England, had Sunday supermarket shopping for a long time before England and Wales. Though I remember the drinks aisles in Asda being closed on Sundays when I worked there mid nineties.

[Hot Pepsi]

Everything should be closed at least one day a week. Everyone needs to rest.

[Bored Of Education]

Agreed.

Hold on, apart from pubs, yeah?

[Gangster Octopus]

Yeah, Lang, I remember staying with a friend in Haddington in 1991 and being somewhat surprised when she went out and did some shopping on a Sunday.

[Hot Pepsi]

Agreed.

Hold on, apart from pubs, yeah?

No, they need time off too. Just not all on the same day. So some could be shut on Monday and some could be shut on Tuesday and some on Sunday.

[Sporting]

There's such a thing as staff shifts so these places can open every day.

[Hot Pepsi]

There's such a thing as staff shifts so these places can open every day.

What if the place only has three or four employees?

[Sporting]

Fair point.