Blue laws: Impact on regional retail activity

Abstract

Diametrically opposite conclusions about the impact of blue laws on regional retail activity can be found in both the popular press and the economics literature. Most of these conclusions are based either on anecdotal evidence or on data from particular types of retail stores in a very limited geographical area.This study is based on a nation-wide analysis of the retail sector as a whole and ten subsectors in all regions of the U.S. with and without blue laws. The results suggest that Sunday closing laws do not affect the overall level of retail activity in a region in a significant manner. However, blue laws are shown to significantly affect the distribution of retail activity among certain subsectors of retail trade in a region.

Who Will Work on Sunday? The Winners and Losers of Sunday Laws Relaxation

“…We detect no variation in the share of turnover in retail trade in either sub-sample. This result is comparable to that of McNiel and Yu (1989) who showed that Sunday closing laws ("blue laws") do not affect the overall level of retail activity in a significant manner in the US.…”

In Cervisia Veritas: The impact of repealing Sunday blue laws on alcohol sales and retail competition

“…Blue laws in the United States include limits on access to alcohol and often reflect historical moral codes (Beliveau and Rouse, 2012;Teupe, 2019). Initially inspired by religious beliefs, these laws are believed to affect retail activities in regulated sectors (McNiel and Yu, 1989), and the loosening of these laws throughout the 1980s and 1990s by state and local governments potentially contributed to behavioral changes (Wyper et al, 2023). While research on alcohol accessibility suggests consumers may drink more alcohol when it can be sold in grocery stores (e.g., Adrian, Ferguson, and Her, 1996;Rickard, 2012), there is less clarity on the impact of repealing blue laws limiting alcohol sales on Sundays (Sunday blue laws) (Popova et al, 2009;Meany et al, 2018), although some studies suggest repealing these laws may either reduce (Green, Heywood, and Navarro, 2014) or have no effect (Lovenheim and Steefel, 2011) on linked negative behaviors such as fatal vehicle accidents.…”