Blue Laws Relaxed for Day-After-Christmas

and other package stores will be open on Monday, the day after Christmas. But until this past Tuesday, liquor stores in Massachusetts were technically not going to be able to open the day after Christmas, according to a provision in the "blue laws" that had not been changed.

Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill that would allow package stores in Massachusetts to open on the day after Christmas, as the Boston Herald reported. Under previous state law, reported the Herald, "when Christmas falls on a Sunday—as it does this year—liquor stores must also remain closed on the Monday after the holiday."

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said to State House News, “This is one of the quirks in the Blue Laws we never fixed," as the Boston Business Journal reported.