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.[...]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colonists at home or in church on Sundays, have been repealed, such as a ban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.
If I’m not mistaken, at many retail outlets that are open on the holidays,
working on holidays is usually voluntary and wage-earners are usually paid
time-and-a-half or double-time for their inconvenience.
I guess the folks on Beacon Hill think that stores and employees shouldn’t
be permitted to make those decisions for themselves.
