Blue Laws

For the first time in my life, I went into a liquor store on a Sunday. Colorado repealed its blue laws on July 1. Earlier today, I was walking from the grocery store to Blockbuster; I passed the liquor store and thought, "It would be nice to have some red wine tonight." Even though I knew about the change in policy, it was strange to see an OPEN sign in the window. I can't decide if I feel liberated or heathenish for buying wine on a Sunday. :)



I remember as a child seeing the toy and beer sections of the Safeway covered up with netting on Sundays. I read on Wikipedia that in Texas, blue laws prohibited selling housewares such as pots, pans, and washing machines on Sunday until 1985. Maybe toys were a part of that restriction?

And one time, when we lived in Houston, I added some beer to my grocery cart and tried to check out, not realizing that it was 11:30 on a Sunday. I did know that one couldn't buy alcohol until after noon on Sundays; I just didn't realize it wasn't noon yet!

I'm not sure what the law has been here about selling beer in grocery stores on Sunday (whether you could buy it after noon or not at all on Sundays). The beer in the grocery stores in Colorado is only 3.2%, so I've never bothered. There's always a liquor store right next door, where one can buy real beer.

When we lived in Tyler, we were in a dry county, so we had to drive across the county line to buy alcohol of any sort. There wasn't even beer or wine at the grocery store. I would make a trip once every few months and load up the back of the Suburban. (Am I starting to sound like I drink too much?) I heard there were restrictions on how much alcohol one could tote across the county line, but I never knew exactly what the restrictions were. Probably a good thing I never got pulled over!

I have no strong feelings on the new law, one way or the other; it's just a little strange to see the end of an era. (The end of the smoking-in-restaurants-era, on the other hand, was one I met with much rejoicing!)