By Page Ivey
The Associated Press
November 29, 2003

COLUMBIA — At high noon on a recent Sunday in the largest mall in South Carolina’s largest city, shoppers were a bit perplexed by what they saw. Every store was closed, except one.

The Dillard’s in the Columbiana Center sits in Richland County, the rest of the mall in Lexington County. Stores in Richland can open whenever they want on Sundays; in Lexington, merchants can’t open until 1:30 p.m.

"Is that the weirdest thing you ever heard of?" Columbia resident Denise Laboe asked her daughter during a shopping outing at the mall.

It is one of the most glaring signs that parts of South Carolina are leaving the state’s rural, religious roots behind while other parts are clinging to the idea of maintaining a day of rest with Sunday sales bans, called blue laws.

"I think that sometime in the future, we’ll have consistent blue laws," said Columbia attorney and lobbyist Dwight Drake. "And by that, I mean they will be totally abolished."

Just 20 years ago stores could not sell anything on Sunday except necessities such as food, gasoline and tobacco products. Other items such as clothes, housewares, furniture, television sets and jewelry could not be sold.

In 1985, legislators legalized the sales of all goods after 1:30 p.m. on Sundays. Even that restriction is automatically eliminated if a county collects at least $900,000 in accommodations taxes in one year. County councils also have the option to eliminate the restriction.

Some counties and cities have even done away with the prohibition of alcohol sales on Sunday, but that requires voter approval in a referendum.

The Columbiana Dillard’s opens at noon Sunday in part because it can and because that’s when other stores in the Arkansas-based chain open, said Doug Beachum, assistant manager.

"People enjoy having it," he said. "They get out of church and can come on out and get started."

Mr. Beachum said the store does about 10 percent of its weekly sales on Sunday even though it is open only about half as long as a usual day.

"Actually, that’s why it’s a good day for our employees, because they do so much in a short amount of time," he said.
There are always a few shoppers unfamiliar with the blue laws at Columbiana Center on Sundays.

"It’s really ridiculous," said Robert Lope, of Elizabethtown, Ky., who stopped by to get a cup of coffee on a recent Sunday morning. He likes one specialty store’s mocha coffee, but it was closed. Some restaurants, however, in the food court were open.

"You can walk in naked and get fed, but you can’t buy clothes for yourself," he said. Mr. Lope had just a short time to shop on his one day off before he had to head back to Fort Jackson, a nearby Army base. "I’m not going to get my coffee."

Short time is one reason many people give for wanting to start shopping early on Sundays. "I think, just for the holiday season, it would make more sense to be open," Ms. Laboe said.

Several counties do that. Oconee County, for example, has a standing ordinance letting stores open earlier during Christmas shopping season.

But, it is such indiscriminate application of the blue laws that rankles Jim Hatchell, president of the South Carolina Merchants Association. "If it’s OK to sell before 1:30 in December, it should be OK in July."

The Columbiana Center situation, he says, "is intolerable, it’s lunacy."

"If you buy a pair of shoes at the wrong end of the mall at 1:15 p.m. ... you’re going to hell," Mr. Hatchell joked.

Blue laws The following counties do not have blue laws governing the sale of retail goods on Sunday: Beaufort Charleston Georgetown Greenville Horry Pickens Richland Spartanburg All other counties can sell any items on Sunday, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Source: South Carolina Merchants Association

Copyright 2003, Anderson Independent Mail. All Rights Reserved.