Closed on Sunday: Local businesses open 6 days a week

SALT LAKE CITY --

President Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told Walt Macey he would refuse to shop in his store if it continued to be open on Sunday.

Macey and his business partner had three stores in Salt Lake City's Rose Park area. They disagreed when it came to being open on Sunday. Macey’s business partner agreed to split the responsibility of what was then known as “Save A Nickel.” The larger store went to Macey, while his partner took the two smaller stores, thinking that Macey would struggle financially in honoring his commitment to be closed on Sunday and that he would be able to get Macey’s store back for next to nothing.

Macey’s store, which was open six days a week, flourished, while the other two stores, which were open seven days a week, eventually went out of business. Macey renamed his store “Macey’s Rose Park Economy Store.” He later dropped part of the name to become “Macey’s,” which is now 11 stores strong .

“We all believe that a very large portion of the success for the Macey’s stores over 65 years of operation is the firm commitment to Sunday closing,” said Darin Peirce, vice president of Macey’s. “We continually receive an overwhelming number of comments from customers saying they shop our stores exclusively due to our being closed on Sundays.”

Many Utah business owners choose to close their doors on Sundays even when their sister stores are open out-of-state. For some, it’s a simple matter of demographics equaling good business sense. For others, it’s a matter of religious convictions. For others, it is both.

Sundays have traditionally been a slower day for business in Utah. Two years after gaining statehood in 1898, the state legislature passed a law closing most businesses on Sunday. Sunday closing laws were also called blue laws .

In 1943, the Utah law succumbed to the same fate as most blue laws when the Utah Supreme Court overruled the legislation as being too ambiguous regarding which businesses could open and which could not. While several attempts have been made since to mandate Sunday business closings since, nothing has attracted a governor’s signature or held up in court.

But laws and legislation had little effect on Lloyd Ash when he started the Purple Turtle, which has been a fixture on State Street in Pleasant Grove, Utah, for years. Locals use it as a landmark for giving directions to points north. It also is closed on Sundays against advice from experienced fast-food owners and consultants.

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