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Blue Laws: to Have or Not to Have?

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New Project from fortune on Vimeo.

A video showing the contrast in activity during the week in downtown Englewood. The flow of traffic does not stop while customers enjoy walking in and out of shops.

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A peaceful and serene Sunday afternoon with no traffic on South Dean Street, downtown Englewood

Blaring car horns and inescapable traffic encompass downtown Englewood on a typical weekday. Shoppers race to their favorite boutiques, with a Starbucks in hand, as they attempt to get the best sale. Once Sunday hits, the congestion ceases, silence takes over, and few customers are seen, a shift attributed to the blue laws.

“Englewood is a ghost town on Sundays,” said local resident, Lita Avitan. “Walking down Palisades Avenue you’ll only see people running to the grocery store or sitting at a café. The real action lies in the shopping.”

Of the 21 counties in New Jersey, Bergen County is the only one to preserve the blue laws. Enacted in New Jersey in 1854, the blue laws are designed to restrict commercial activities on Sundays and promote a Christian Sabbath, a day of rest or worship. The term “blue,” coined by Reverend Samuel Peters described Puritan laws and those who followed them, contrary to the belief that the laws were written on blue paper.

Where it once was used to encourage church attendance, today the blue laws are used as a matter of convenience—to reduce traffic. It is a day where a beautiful jacket, a frying pan, or a couch cannot be purchased as all clothing, furniture, and appliance sales are banned. The only shops left opened for business are the necessities: chic restaurants, local supermarkets, and gas stations.

Sundays are sacred to Englewood residents with the weekdays described as a nightmare of frantic shoppers, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and sheer chaos. Home to four shopping malls in a three mile radius, the jammed packed highways cause residents to desperately seek the peace and quiet found under the law. “The blue laws keep a sense of tradition as well as calmness in Bergen County,” said resident of 20 years, Oshrat Nachum. “Shopping is certainly accessible during the week and no longer a necessity on Sunday.” Others hope to eliminate the blue laws as a means to continue shopping and revitalize the town’s economy.

Englewood’s problem is stagnant as its Planning Board is unable to repeal the act since it’s under state and county jurisdiction. With the power to revoke the law in the hands of state and county boards, the tension proceeds to heighten among local residents and business owners who debate if stores should be open.

A Personal Sentiment

Residents appreciate the blue laws’ ability to keep Englewood a traditional suburban community on Sundays instead of one that is consumed by shopping. On a typical Sunday morning, resident of 38 years, Rafi Amirian steps outside of his home and sees kids riding bicycles, neighbors talking, and leaves falling on the pavement, a sight he doesn’t get to see during his hectic week.

“Sundays are my only days to be active, go for a nice walk in the park, or watch my sons’ baseball game,” he said. “I don’t want to sit in traffic all day just to buy a new shirt, that’s what the weekdays are for.”

Although this idea of relaxation and religious observance on Sunday serves the “greater good” with less traffic and materialistic distractions, the large Jewish community in Englewood would benefit from the removal of the blue laws.

Religious Orthodox Jews celebrate the Sabbath, their day of rest, on Saturday, where they are prohibited to work, use electric items, or spend money. In a study done in 2000, Bergen County estimated to have 83,700 Jews with 5,500 in Englewood while the largest synagogue in the area, Congregation Ahavath Torah, welcomed 98 new families in the years 2008 to 2012. Although Amirian is generally in favor of the laws, from a Jewish perspective he believes “the blue laws only take into account those who observe the Sabbath on Sundays,” he said. “As Jews, we can’t go out on Saturday and then again on Sunday, so we lose two days to run errands.”

An Economic Dilemma 

“Errand days,” commonly associated with Sundays for most shoppers, would create an opportunity to generate higher incomes and revenue for the city if stores were to open. Opening on Sunday or even in the late afternoon would please those who attend religious functions and those who rather shop according to resident, Esther Sasouness. “I don’t see the harm in getting rid of the blue laws or opening stores later than regular business days so workers can still have time to maintain their religious traditions,” she said. “People sleep in on Sundays so stores wouldn’t get a significant amount of customers until noon anyway.”

For many storeowners in Englewood, opening on Sunday would greatly improve business. It would add 3,200 jobs to Bergen County and more than $1.1 billion in retail sales according to CBSnews.com.

Moosavi Rugs & Home Furnishings, a rug company with 38 years of experience in the industry, hangs a large sign with the words “Going Out of Business,” in red bold letters on its front door. The owner has decided to retire at the end of this year but General Manager, Jose Cabrera, feels the blue laws hurt their business. “Everyday is money,” he said. “The weekends are the busiest days of the week so if we have to close on Sundays we’re losing money.”

Moosavi does not stand alone in the fight for greater business opportunities as fellow shop owner, Elanna Levy would like to have the power to decide if her store opens on Sunday or not, without a law forcing her to close. She owns Reve Boutique, a store where mothers come with their daughters to pick a perfect gown for any occasion. Since her store is closed on Sundays, some of her customers rather drive 20 minutes away to Manhattan to get the dresses they need.

“Most of my clients are young girls who go to school during the week,” she said. “They don’t have time to shop until Saturday or Sunday. If I could open on Sunday it would add an extra day of business.”

The battle to keep stores open continues, but some owners intend to keep the blue laws the way they are. The local pharmacy store, Buckley’s Drug Store and Compounding Center, remains closed on Sunday although technically drug stores are allowed to open as it is seen as a necessity for residents to get essential goods. Owner, Gil Dominguez, works six days of the week, giving himself and his workers only one day off to recover from the stressful week. “Since we all work so hard everyday, it’s important to have one day to rest,” he said. “If I opened on Sundays, I would have to hire and train a new staff, which would cost a lot of money.”

For the food industry, closing on Sunday would be unfathomable. It is the only industry that does not feel the pressure and inconvenience imposed by the blue laws. All seven days a week, restaurants are open, bringing in customers from near and neighboring towns to share in the experience of a lively atmosphere and delicious cuisine.

Owner of Hummus Elite, a place of traditional Israeli food, closes his restaurant on Saturday to observe the Sabbath. If Shlomo Cohenn could not open on Sundays too, his business would suffer. “Sunday nights are our busiest day of the week,” he said. “Families, couples, friends all come in and have dinner. I could never close on Sunday, it would hurt my business.”

A Test Trial For The Future

As an attempt to settle this issue, in 2010 Governor Chris Christie proposed a plan in which eliminating New Jersey’s Blue Laws would create $65 million in sales tax, strengthening the state’s economy. This proposal was quickly shut down as residents feared increased traffic and differed in their feelings of its effectiveness to boost the economy. Yet, in light of the devastation brought by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, residents of Bergen County saw what it would be like to have their favorite stores open, but for one Sunday only.  Christie lifted the ban on November 11th to recover the states economy as residents began to rebuild their homes with access needed to retail shops.

Resident Yael Sinai was left to question the future of her town. She said, “If the government has the ability to retract the blue laws for one Sunday to boost the economy, we can only imagine the difference if we completely abolished the law.”

American Girl

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Ta-Nehisi Coates begins his profile, American Girl, by saying “The first time I saw Michelle Obama in the flesh, I almost took her for white.” He later explains this is to be not because of her mannerisms, but because of her belief and support of a black community “fully vested” in their country. The piece focuses on the issue of race and the place of a working woman in American society through the retelling of Obama’s childhood. Coates admits he was surprised that Obama told her story of growing up in Chicago with extreme happiness as if it were picture perfect. Throughout history, African Americans were subject to extreme hardship and discrimination with bios playing on a “dream deferred.” He waited for “slave narratives and oppression… looking for justice and the plight of the poor” but instead Obama promotes the power of the modern woman with her “americanness” rooted in her hometown. Her neighborhood allowed her and other African Americans to be “Black and proud.” She, thus, bridges the gap between black America and all of America. Coates contextualizes Obama in the context of his own background in Baltimore by explaining that although he grew up in a segregated neighborhood, he never understood blackness as a minority until he was the only black man in a room of people who did not look or act like him. He knew he was black but never felt it because his own community had always surrounded him. Obama too, never looked at the world differently when she was a child. As a kid, she wasn’t directly aware of racism but as an adult she felt the segregation.

Englewood’s “Starr” Business

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Entrance to Starr Carpets on the corner of Grand Ave

In the four blocks that comprise Englewood’s shopping center, passersby stop, mesmerized by  massive window displays of intricate patterned rugs and bright carpets.

In a town mostly known for lively restaurants and high-end fashion boutiques, Starr Carpets manages to attract loyal customers with its luxurious style and its works of art.

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Illuminated windows to showcase ornate rugs, which are changed weekly

Mike Nazar prides himself on operating his business on three basic principles: family values, a personal relationship with customers, and guaranteed service.

“I’ve been around for so long that I’ve been able to create great connections with people who trust me and my ability to provide quality products,” he said. “My knowledge and experience makes me a little more unique than other stores.”

This thriving business has provided a comfortable living for Nazar despite the many economic and social changes in the neighborhood. A small town with few home decor options, Starr stands as a premier carpet store since its opening in 1979.  Nazar’s visions and popularity have paved the way for his ever-growing enterprise.

Nazar’s entry into the rug industry began “when troubles started in my country, Iran,” he said. “I left at 18 to pursue my education with the goal of starting my own business.”

His triumphs and prosperity is attributed to his family who helped shape his business as he received guidance and assistance from relatives already in the industry. A financially good deal, it was a perfect opportunity for Nazar to open Starr Carpets in a town where his brother owns the building and he can work with his nephew to continue the family legacy.

Sharum Nazar, Mike’s nephew, said, “My uncle has shown me the ropes to be successful in a competitive business. With the lessons I’ve learned, our company has grown and extended our inventory to include pieces from all major rug producing countries.”

This partnership allows Starr Carpets to specialize in traditional and contemporary wall-to-wall coverings, a carpet covering the entire floor from one wall to another, and hand woven area rugs. Twenty to twenty-five percent of Nazar’s merchandise is bought domestically while the rest is imported from Europe and Asia.

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Together with seven staff members, Nazar is able to customize and design the homes of his clients while keeping up with the latest trends. He is affiliated with interior designers who introduce him to clients from New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island, and New York City.

“I enjoy walking into my customers’ homes knowing I’ve helped create something beautiful for them,” he said. “They’ll pass this carpet or rug everyday and it’s important for them to love it.”

Sigal Benatar, an Englewood resident, knows Nazar for 16 years and worked with him to carpet her entire house.

“He’s always there to help even if something is wrong with the carpet years later. His prices are fair and he’s an honest man,” she said.

The average 8 x10 rug made with medium to higher end material is sold by Nazar for about $4,000- $5,000 while a lower-end rug is sold for $1,500-$2,500. Carpeting starts at $10 a square foot and can go as high as $175 per square foot.

Prices constantly increase as interior designers direct Nazar towards current trends and market demands along with carpet shows that showcase new colors, patterns, and textures. Sometimes a fuzzy brown carpet might look like it will stay in style but the fashion changes with each season, causing Nazar to be dependent on factories and importers to design new products he can order.

“Once they develop new products, I pick and choose the styles I think can best sell in my shop,” he said. “I order most of my merchandise once a year at these shows.”

Today’s home decor color trends change so rapidly that one day grays and blues are in and then six months later bright yellows are popular, making it hard to predict the style’s longevity. It is Nazar’s job to know what pieces will remain in demand as it takes four to six months to make a hand knotted rug. This is the most difficult part of the job since there are no guarantees customers will go through with pre-orders if something new comes out.

FullSizeRender(3)“You really have to know what the upcoming colors are in order to produce and order your rugs six months in advance,” he said. “You could have produced 20 gray rugs that were on the looms for a year and then the style turns purple, so you’re stuck with these now.”

As the rugs are made in Europe and Asia, Nazar finds a decrease in skilled weavers qualified for production because industrialization causes a desire within younger generations to be a part of the world economy. Working 18 hours a day, in a tight spaced sweltering factory, workers receive minimal wages and are exposed to conditions that threaten their health and cause arthritis from holding small tools and tying knots. “Carpet kids,” are migrating from these countries  to create a better life for themselves, to pursue higher education, and to find jobs, ultimately dropping child laborers 75% from one million to 250,000.

The lack of proficient workers, ephemeral color trends, and internet sales are resulting in a steady decline in area rugs.

“We do area rugs but, today, they’re not in demand,” he said. “Most people are requesting wall-to-wall coverings because things have shifted to a contemporary side.”

Internet sales hurt many businesses but Nazar’s only lost a handful of people, unlike other industries. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Americans are expected to shell out $327 billion on Internet stores by 2016.”  Furthering this claim, a survey done by Home Furnishings Business discovers that of 157 customers, 23.3% bought rugs at Lowe’s or Home Depot, 13.8% online, and only 11.3% at a traditional rug store. Nazar admits, “I’ll lose one or two customers who will buy area rugs online but it doesn’t amount to anything because the internet doesn’t provide service like I do.”

Along with internet companies, competitors like Moosavi Rugs & Home Furnishing, located three blocks away from Starr Carpets, does not pose any competition according to Nazar, who runs his business on relationships and referrals. Nazar opts out of advertising in magazines or social media because he feels his background knowledge and popularity is sufficient.

“I don’t feel like I need to compete with other stores since most of the people I deal with know me personally and come because of me,” he said.

The General Manager of Moosavi Rugs & Home Furnishing, Jose Cabrera, however, believes being around another competing rug store is beneficial and does not take away from his clientele. Moosavi Rugs is in a bigger space than Starr Carpets, allowing them to showcase more merchandise but the store is limited to Tibetan rugs and doesn’t supply carpeting like Nazar does. Its advantage, Cabrera says, is that “We are direct importers, so we sell our merchandise at a wholesale price,” he said. “We can provide our customers with the lowest prices unlike other retail stores who drastically raise prices.” Despite this benefit, a  “Going Out of Business” sign hangs on the front door.

Moosavi Rugs & Home Furnishing has survived for the past 38 years with its foundation in New York City, only moving to Englewood two years ago. But the owner has recently decided to retire due to health issues and he is planning to close the store by the end of this year.

FullSizeRender(1)Although a little friendly competition is crucial in business, Moosavi’s impending closing means that there will be one less competitor in the neighborhood.  Meanwhile, Starr seems to have remarkable staying power.“I’ve been honest and that’s the best way to succeed in business,” Nazar said.

 

 

 

Battle in Black and White

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Bagli’s recent piece about Stuyvesant Town relates to Fox’s story in that both discuss important social issues. Previously, housing was an issue of race and now it has evolved into a struggle of economic class that determines who lives there. Bagli targets the conflict of income within different socioeconomic classes while Fox focuses on a housing complex’s history and her grandparent’s activism to allow black families to live there. Traditionally, Stuyvesant Town was an area that housed World War II veterans and now its function for the next 20 years is still to provide and preserve affordable housing to middle class families. It no longer is a place where discrimination is prevalent or where significant tax breaks and financial support is given to veterans. It’s a high-profile complex with rents of $4,200 or more, which is a lot for middle-income families to afford. In both pieces, the issue of eviction is mentioned to show residents had a hard time fitting in and staying in the area.

Conflict Proposal

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Englewood’s town center is known for its small retail shops and lively restaurants. On weekdays, the streets are busy with bumper to bumper traffic and customers spending money in their favorite boutiques. But on Sundays, the streets are empty with minimal car traffic and residents. All retail stores such as clothing, furniture, or appliances are closed, only allowing residents to go to the local grocery and liquor store, restaurants, or CVS Pharmacy. This restriction on opening retail stores on Sunday is called the Blue Law. The law was initiated in 1693 with its purpose to create a day of rest or worship for residents. Bergen County is one of the few counties in New Jersey to keep this law and not have it repealed. The Blue Law has created a conflict with mixed feelings amongst residents. This issue has many sides as it pleases some residents while others despise the restriction it imposes on their lives. I would need to talk to residents, business owners, and the community board to receive a broad range of opinions. Are residents upset they can’t shop on Sundays? Do they seek the peace and quiet that is not attainable during the week because of constant car traffic? What do most residents do on Sundays if they can’t go to town and shop? Are business owners heavily affected? Would opening on Sundays bring in higher sales? These questions need to be touched upon in order to understand how the Blue Law affects Englewood residents.

A.J. Liebling

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Back Where I Came From has been called a “love letter to the City of New York” as the author, A.J. Liebling, describes the city’s greatness and its diverse faces and voices. I believe it’s a tribute to the city but more importantly to the people who inhabit it. As a regional book, it is written in local language and slang to describe the people Liebling came across. Liebling was born and raised in New York City, being exposed to all it has to offer whether good or bad. He explains New York as “one of the oldest places in the United States, but doesn’t live in retrospect like the professionally picturesque provinces. Any city may have one period of magnificence, like Boston or New Orleans or San Francisco, but it takes a real one to keep renewing itself until the past is perennially forgotten.” New York is a city that has remained elegant and enticing despite its past. People are able to adapt to the changes the city faced over the years and contribute to its history. He says native New Yorkers are the best mannered, the women are the most beautiful with straight teeth, the climate is healthy, and the death rate is lower than in any other city. He describes people who are superstitious and only go into bodies of water an odd amount of times, people who are professional eaters and fasters, and a tummler who runs a nightclub business just to make a dollar. These are people that one might look past and ignore but are fascinating. Liebling specifically chooses them to shed light on the uniqueness found in New York City.

Business Proposal

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For my business story, I want to profile Englewood’s custom-made carpet and rug store called Starr Carpets. The store is broken up into two sections, one that caters to oriental rugs and the other for wall-to-wall coverings. Located on Grand Avenue and established in 1979, owner Mike Nazar has customized the homes of many residents with his specialized selection of contemporary, traditional, and antique products. He works closely with his clients to produce a carpet or area rug that fits their ideal look and vision. Over the years, Nazar has earned the trust of his customers who keep calling him back to furnish every corner of their homes. However, with the many stores that go out of business in Englewood, I’m curious how Nazar has remained successful in the same spot for the last 36 years as he also competes with other rug stores in the area. I want to know the main issues the industry faces especially with the advancement of technology and online companies. Some of the rugs are hand made from different countries so I want to know where his main source of merchandise comes from and how much inventory he needs in order to provide diversity for his customers. It’s also important to know how Nazar tailors to his clientele, follows trends, and how he knows which items will sell in his area. All these questions are important in uncovering the success and challenges that he faces in his industry.

“Small Town Man, Big Time Job”

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The business has been around for 80 years and the building was recently renovated in 2012.

The building’s awning reads, “Buckley’s Drug Store and Compounding Center.” Customers enter an old-fashioned pharmacy owned by a man who greets them by name and asks about their day. Puzzled by the word compounding, they learn their medications are made from scratch to tailor their needs. The store, on the tree-lined streets of Englewood, New Jersey, reflects the charm of a family owned business and specialized medication.

A bell rings to signal your arrival when you open the door. Gil Dominguez can be seen filling patient’s prescriptions with sounds of pounding, conversation, and old school music filling the air.

For the last 30 years, 10 hours a day, Mr. Dominguez has successfully run Buckley’s, on Palisades Avenue, with his own personal touch despite the difficulties he faces.

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Dominguez is always seen in his white lab coat and smiling at customers.

From childhood, he has been surrounded by the world of medicine, following in the footsteps of his aunt and father-in-law who owned a pharmacy in Cuba. His father, struggling to pave the way for a prosperous life for his children, embarked on a journey to fulfill his family’s dreams.

“I grew up watching my aunt work and one day I started to ask questions,” he said. “I saw all the great things she could do for her patients and I knew I wanted to do something with a professional license in a business environment.”

With that dream, Dominguez worked in a number of pharmaceutical firms and hospitals until he acquired Buckley’s, where he works with his wife and son. Passing down family values, Dominguez said he hopes “we can be here for another 30 plus years.”

Mixing family with business has presented several challenges in his struggle to survive and remain current.

“My wife takes care of the gift shop and social media publicity while my son assists with compounding medications and patient care,” he said. “Families fight but we only get stronger.”

The key to Dominguez’s success is how he serves his customers in ways chain pharmacies such as Walgreens or the CVS down the street cannot. Although 41 percent of Americans buy their prescriptions at chain stores according to ConsumerReports.org, Dominguez builds his business by accommodating patient’s needs, schedules, and requests, creating an intimate atmosphere not possible among chain stores. In an age where humans are numbers on a computer, or voice-acted recordings, customers appreciate that Dominguez remembers their face and medical history.

“This industry has to be personalized,” he said. People don’t just come to your store because it’s a pharmacy, they come because they have a trust.”

A loyal customer and Englewood resident, Annette Amirian, has been going to Buckley’s for 12 years. She relies on Dominguez to provide her family with prescriptions in a timely fashion.

She said, “I go to Gil because I believe he monitors what types of medications I’m taking and truly cares for my well-being.”

This relationship between patient and pharmacist does not just exist within the Buckley’s building. Dominguez admits to seeing a lot of his customers at the local grocery store down the street.

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Dominguez crushing pills to compound medications.

“Englewood is a close community,” he said. “When I go pick up some milk, it will take me 15 minutes because I bump into patients and start talking.”

Dominguez’s goal is simple: to please patients and monitor their care. Buckley’s specializes in compounding medications to fit patient’s needs in the lab on the second floor. If a patient can’t take an oral medication, he looks for an alternative such as a cream or a suppository to be taken.

A highlight of his job is when Dominguez is able to help someone get a medication that the insurance company refuses to pay for. “Although it is not simple to override a medication that the insurance company didn’t cover,” he said. “When I can, I know I’ve done something good for my patient.”

Dominguez takes the good with the bad as he finds himself struggling with today’s technological advancements that have caused a decline in sales due to online mail orders. Certain prescriptions have a rider available through mail order for maintenance drugs such as blood pressure, asthma, or diabetes medications that can only be filled through a PBM, a pharmacy benefit manager. The idea is to get people to use lower cost mail order services instead of having prescriptions filled at their local drugstores.

“Over the last 15 years, I would say I lost a lot of customers because of this,” he said. “Let’s say a family of four uses mail orders, that’s four patients that I’ve lost.”

His problems all “come down to dollars and cents.” About 10-15 times a day, Dominguez calls insurance companies to make sure he was reimbursed when he was supposed to or calls to receive a prior authorization from a doctor to cover a prescription before he can refill it.

“A simple procedure that takes five minutes can take 30 minutes because of a constant back and forth between doctors and insurance companies,” he said.

Joe Gould

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Joseph Mitchell’s “Joe Gould’s Secret” is a profile novel that follows the life and career of an everyday man. Mitchell is described as one who is “not easily bored,” intrigued by the simple pleasures in life such as old buildings, churches, hotels, and restaurants to name a few. These traits make it sensible that he would study a character like Gould who is a bit odd yet fascinating. Mitchell’s work is described by Harold Ross as “highlife-lowlife”  because it focus on the elite city that is New York and the “lowlife” that is a person who is toothless, needs money from others to survive,  and wears “discarded clothes of a man several inches taller and wider.” A highlife profile is one of achievements and success while a lowlife profile is one of mistakes and experiences. Gould’s story tells the world about the beauties of New York with all the “highs and lows,” good and bad. Although the novel was a profile on Gould, it too is a story about Mitchell and provides readers with facts about both people and their relationship. Both men are smart, both are writers, both fabricate the truth, and ironically have the same name. Mitchell made things up in his writing, mixing fact and fiction just as Gould went his whole life speaking about the amazing “Oral History of Our Time” that seemingly never existed other than in his mind. Gould ultimately lives the highlife because every knows him, donates to his fund, or even buys him a drink but he lives the lowlife too in that he needs the support.

“Invisible Child”

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Andrea Elliott’s “Invisible Child” is a captivating piece that allows readers to get a sense of who Dasani is. She is a girl molded by her surroundings, something Elliott truthfully displays. I disagree with critics who feel that the story was too long because Elliott managed to stay focused in describing her subject. After studying Dasani for 2 years, Elliott accumulated tons of information that is only possible within a longer piece. She carefully selects her words to tell a story and provides an image for her readers.

I don’t think it was necessary for the New York Times to explicitly disclose the amount of time that went into the piece because it was obvious a story of this length was well researched as she also showed a progression of time through events in Dasani’s life.

By leaving out Dasani’s last name, Elliott allows a sense of privacy to her and her family. It is not essential to the whole of the story because readers are still able to understand the struggles she faces. Her first name is so important to the foundation of the story because she was named after a water bottle company that her parents couldn’t afford. Just by her name, readers can understand the scope of her situation. However, by including pictures her identity and face is revealed to the world.

Elliott constructs her story in a way that touches upon larger issues found in America. She focuses on homelessness, poverty, and the education system. She could have included some statistics on the number of homeless people or how many people live in shelters. Overall, I feel Elliott was covering a touchy subject and managed not to cross any lines with Dasani or her family.