American Dream Mall Is Sued for Allowing Shopping on Sundays

New York|A Huge Mall Allows Shopping on Sundays. Is That Illegal?

The law, a descendant of the Act to Suppress Vice and Immorality, passed by the New Jersey Legislature in 1798, is clear:

“On Sunday, it shall be unlawful for any person, whether it be at retail, wholesale or by auction, to sell … clothing or wearing apparel, building and lumber supply materials, furniture, home or business or office furnishings, household, business or office appliances….”

And the repercussions are clear as well: “Any person who violates any provision of this section is a disorderly person,” subject to fines ranging from $250 to $5,000 and up to six months in jail.

So-called blue laws, which were often established to ban the sale of alcohol on Sundays across the United States, have largely been repealed. But in one New Jersey county, those laws remain very much in force. This week the borough of Paramus, N.J., sued one of the largest malls in North America, accusing the mall’s owners of brazenly violating the law.

According to a lawsuit filed Monday in New Jersey Superior Court in Bergen County, the American Dream mall, in East Rutherford, N.J., does nothing to restrict its retailers from selling lumber, furniture and “wearing apparel” on Sundays. In fact, a billboard on the mall facing the New Jersey Turnpike and busy State Route 3 proclaimed “ALL STORES OPEN SUNDAYS.”