When I lived in Massachusetts, they still had the Blue Laws, which required that the stores be closed on Sundays. There were lots of loopholes though - a 7-11 could be open, but a grocery store could not. Restaurants were unaffected by this. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas the law was suspended so people could go out and buy useless crap for gifts.

When I lived on Long Island, only businesses with a few employees were allowed to be open. My Dad could buy his Sunday morning paper and pastries, but Mom couldn't go grocery shopping. So they'd send us outside, so we didn't trash the house, and go for a nice, relaxing drive. Back then the neighbors were afraid of us, not the other way around.

As I recall, the larger stores began to argue that they sold newspapers and pastries too, that they were losing business to small stores and that they were being treated unfairly. In response, the supermarkets were allowed to open on Sundays with only as many employees as were allowed for the small stores. But people liked shopping on Sundays and bought more and more than just newspapers and pastries. And it went from there.