Blue Laws

         When I was little, Sundays were a day of rest throughout the town. The majority of stores were closed, leaving parking lots full of little other than sunlight. The highways were quiet, and the world seemed infused with peace. Sundays were a day almost everyone had free to spend with family, friends, or a good book.

         Sundays, while still invariably sunny and offering the promise of a fresh start to the week, have changed. The world has forgotten the charm of rest; even liquor stores and banks have succumbed to the commercial current created by major corporations. Bustling roads bristle with congestion.

         Lost also to commercialism is the character of our small towns and suburbs. In a state imbued with the historic flavor of several centuries of development, the last eighty years have seen the near obliteration of small family run concerns and minor landmarks. Giant corporations flex their strong arm of cheaper goods, and so the "little guy" must either create a unique niche, or regretfully close his doors. I can't help but wonder, when WAL*MART has finished crowding out the lesser competition, will their prices go up?

         I resent WAL*MART and CVS for the disturbances they have visited on our historic areas. On the Bourne rotary (some call them roundabouts...either way, they make my blood pressure soar), a seafood restaurant stood for many years. It was a typical tourist trap, complete with tourist trappings-lobster traps, plastic gaping fish, faux seagulls perched on pier pilings. But, the food was fresh and good, and a pie shop did a brisk business during the holidays. The owner of the restaurant bought an old New York tugboat and placed it on the side lawn; it served as an ice cream shop during the summer, before the heyday of Legal Liabilities made it unwise to have tourists tripping up the narrow ramp. I remember it, moored incongruously on the land, sitting evocatively beside the road. I can imagine parents saying to excited children on their way to a precious two weeks on Cape Cod, "Look! There's the tugboat! We're almost there!".

         But the restaurant was sold to folks who didn't fare as well. Ultimately, CVS purchased it for a new location, despite the fact that another store, located not ten miles up the road, had been built within fifteen years. And when THAT store was built, one already existed across the street. The second CVS uprooted yet another minor landmark; one of my fond childhood memories is driving down Cranberry Highway, seeing the Grey Oaks antique shop with its windows full of cobalt and other bright glass. That building was mercifully preserved, moved to another location; it was an antique cottage. The tugboat was rescued, too, moved just down the street. But the locales are more bland for their losses.

         Both WAL*MART and CVS have an alarming tendency to build stores within spitting distance of another. WAL*MART built a store in Plymouth, near historic Cordage Park, only to close it down and build a Super WAL*MART in a new development not ten miles away, and about ten years after. This incident was especially aggravating because another antique building was uprooted, just to have the move negated within a decade . A round structure originally employed as a theater for Cordage Park workers, it then became a brewery, was purchased by the town and utilised as a library, and ultimately, donated to the church across the street, where it stands now. I'm morbidly sure that, had WAL*MART purchased the land with the building, it would have demolished the old structure, that being the most financially feasible solution.

         Both of these corporations are involved with charity organizations, but don't kid yourself, they are for tax benefits. I'd like to see them make efforts unique to each situation; I can't help but feel that it would have been money well spent, and excellent PR, for CVS to have preserved the tugboat. It certainly would have saved me the trouble of boycotting that particular location. It also troubles me that every store is exactly like every other store; should I be travelling, I'd derive small comfort from visiting a store identical to the one I left at home. I want to visit stores that savor of the history of the towns they're in.