Business & Tech

Blue Laws Repeal 'Inevitable,' Retail Group Says

The president of the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association said he expects Bergen voters will repeal the county's "blue laws."

The leader of a retail group expects Bergen County will get rid of its "blue laws" prohibiting the sale of certain items on Sundays, according to a report on NJ.com.

John Holub, the president of the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association, said he believes there is more support to repeal the blue laws now than there was the last time voters considered the issue in 1993, according to the report.

"It's not a matter of if they'll repeal, it's just a matter of when," Holub said in the report. "We are light-years away in public sentiment than we were 20 years ago."

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

The blue laws have been debated around the county since Gov. Chris Christie temporarily suspended the laws after Hurricane Sandy. Westwood resident Rosemary Shashoua is the leader of a new group called "Modernize Bergen County," which seeks to repeal the blue laws via a voter referendum.

"All I want is more revenue for the state and more jobs," Shashoua previously said.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Holub also said he believed state legislation could be used to eliminate the blue laws, according to the NJ.com report.

Others, like Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera, are fighting to keep the blue laws. He called the argument to repeal the laws "ridiculous."

"Don't worry about Paramus and we won't worry about what you do in your town," LaBarbiera said at a council meeting last month.

Mitch Horn, a Hackensack resident who is also involved with Modernize Bergen County, said he wanted to "change the story so that it's not really about the people of Paramus, but about the other 900,000 people who live in Bergen," according to the NJ.com report.

The blue laws have been challenged twice: once in 1980 and again in 1993. The plans to repeal the laws were defeated 192,394 to 157,648 in 1980 and 185,821 to 105,040 in 1993.

What do you think about the blue laws? Click here to vote in our poll.

Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Jim Leggate at Jim.Leggate@patch.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here