FREEPORT, Maine — Despite being Thanksgiving, Freeport was busy on Thanksgiving with folks looking to get some of their holiday shopping out of the way before the Black Friday rush.
"We decided to have a Friendsgiving and wanted to spruce it up a little bit,” shopper Elaine Perry said. “We actually went to the Harraseeket Inn for Thanksgiving dinner and thought, 'You know, come shopping to add to the occasion.'”
Perry stopped by L.L.Bean with some of her friends.
“I got snow boots because we are going to Germany in a week,” she explained.
Perry wasn’t the only one with plans to swing by Beans. That’s because it’s one of the few places open for shopping in Maine on Thanksgiving due to the state’s blue laws.
In Maine, blue laws prohibit the sale of cars on Sundays. The law prohibiting hunting on Sundays in Maine may also be considered a blue law.
Furthermore, blue laws prohibit many large stores from opening on three major holidays: Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving.
Maine state title 17, §3204(2)(hh) reads: In no event, however, may any store having more than 5,000 square feet of interior customer selling space be open on Easter Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
That means stores like Hannaford, Shaw's, Walmart, Target, Lowes, and Home Depot will be closed on Thanksgiving Day.
L.L.Bean is an exception to the law because it sells things like sporting equipment, according to a spokesperson.