Toy store seeks exemption

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Toys "R" Us will ask a judge on Monday to stop a New Jersey town from enforcing a law that restricts the retailer's operations on Sundays.

Paramus' so-called blue law requires most professional centers to close on Sundays, including the Toys "R" Us headquarters in Paramus, where in January the company set up a computer system to monitor inventory at its more than 1,000 stores nationwide.

Toys R Us employees have been using the system six days a week, then monitoring inventory on Sundays from a facility in nearby Parsippany.

Last November, the company asked Paramus for permission to staff the headquarters with a handful of employees on Sundays. In March, officials denied the request, and Toys "R" Us sued last week in Superior Court.

Toys "R" Us is seeking a temporary halt to the law until the lawsuit can be heard. On Monday, the retailer is expected to cite a 1988 decision allowing essential employees of another Paramus company to do computer work on Sundays.

The borough's attorney contends the work is not essential to the retailer's operations. And borough officials say tracking toy sales is not a good enough reason for them to bend the law.

Toys "R" Us disagrees. "We have a responsibility to support our stores nationwide, so this is indeed critical to us," Toys "R" Us spokeswoman Rebecca Caruso told The Record of Hackensack for Saturday's editions.

Blue laws - prohibitions on shopping and other Sunday activities - were authorized by a 1958 state statute that gave local governments the option to adopt them. Most New Jersey municipalities that opted for blue laws have since eliminated them.