So I’m catching up with the news for the last couple of days after a weekend out of town, and I see that the biggest local story seems to be controversy over Thanksgiving blue laws. (Hat tip: Universal Hub and Borderline. Archived story at the Globe) It started when Whole Foods planned to have all stores open for the day, and Shaw’s pointed the AG office to existing blue laws forbidding business on Thanksgiving. So Whole Foods will now be open.
Now, I’m lucky enough to work for a company that gives such holidays off automatically. And I’ve actually shopped at Whole Foods on Thanksgiving Day in years past. So I’m part of the problem rather than the solution. But I’m for scrapping the blue laws and letting the market (both consumer and labor) sorting out what’s open when. As I’ve written before, these Massachusetts blue laws are applied so selectively that one can’t help but feel that retail-sector protection rather employee protection is the real issue. In any case, there is a loss to consumer when the state steps in as retail protector. Maybe the consumer shouldn’t be king, but I’m not willing to sign onto a German Ladenschlußgesetz either.
What’s interesting, too, is that blogospheric reaction seems to be coming down on the Shaw’s side, driven mostly by what amounts to class and aesthetic animus directed at Whole Foods. Just take a look at the comments on Dan Kennedy’s site. Whether you think ostrich meat or natural deodorant is a ridiculous thing to buy really is a separate issue on how good an employer Whole Foods is. Sure, their touchy-feely MegaTrends2010-ness is a bit much. But Thanksgiving or no, is there any doubt that one would rather work there than at a Shaw’s? Or a question for those who think the blue laws are a lefty, stick-it-to-the-bourgeoisie provision: Which is worse: shopping somewhere on a national holiday or being so price sensitive that you encourage companies to squeeze every ounce of wage from their workers?
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