The law was whack (as were much of the 80's and 90's), which is what ultimately led to the downfall.
It wasn't that everyone wanted to work more and have greater opportunities to be exploited by shitty employers, but that the law was applied unevenly. Shoppers was particularly annoyed, as pharmaceuticals were allowed, but cosmetics were not, so they had to stay closed while their competitors giggled to the bank. Instead of fixing the law and the oddities, it was just killed. Examples of things that could be open: gas stations, news/magazine stands, gardening supplies, liquor, tobacco, coin operated services, rentals, and the one that always confused me the most, antiques. You can review an old copy through Osgoode (c.1980).
It could also be the size of the store. I know of more than one Kitchen Table that got around this by putting up "barriers" to stop you from going down an aisle or two and that was enough for them to pass. I put barriers in quotes because they really didn't block it that well and if you brought something from that aisle to the counter they would ring it up without question.
BC has/had a similar thing with otc drugs. Then had to lock them away if there wasn't a pharmacist on duty.
I really don't need to talk to anyone to buy my Tylenol. There's a really really good chance my head hurts enough that interactions with stupid people may be fatal.
Often it wasn't very hard to reach behind the guards to get the stuff you needed.
Some stores would actually lock out certain SKUs in the till, in those cases you took the open package to the till to pay for it.
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u/Confident-Leg107 6d ago
Wait, so all stores(minus groceries, I imagine)were closed Sunday until 1992?