Storm Brings Extra Day of Shopping to a New Jersey Town Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., where laws restricting Sunday shopping were suspended to help those hit by the hurricane. PARAMUS, N.J. - Well before the Nordstrom at the Garden State Plaza, New Jersey's largest mall, opened at 11 a.m. Sunday, a line of shoppers had already formed outside, eager to browse the department store's half-yearly sale. Were it not for Hurricane Sandy, they could not have been there. Since large malls began clustering in Paramus in the 1950s, so-called blue laws have kept most stores closed every Sunday. But at the request of the Bergen County executive, Gov. Chris Christie suspended the restrictions to give residents reeling from the storm an extra day to replace possessions and assemble basic supplies, turning Sunday into what many Paramus residents fear the town would look like if blue laws were scrapped for good. The Sunday bans have already survived several attempts at repeal. For those who say the bans are the only way to preserve some peace and quiet around town, the statutes are sacrosanct. "It's a wolf in sheep's clothing - it's an attack on our sacred blue laws," Mayor Richard LaBarbiera said. It's business as usual now, and I defy anybody to tell me that more than a fraction of people coming and taking advantage of this are buying items they lost as a result of the storm. Mr. LaBarbiera first announced that the borough would selectively enforce the statute on Sunday to make sure that only essentials - and not "$800 shoes," as he put it - were sold. He was forced to back down after Kathleen A. Donovan, the county executive, won a court ruling ordering Paramus to suspend all blue laws. The statute was also suspended the previous Sunday, but with the requirement that shops sell essentials. Jeanne Baratta, Ms. Donovan's chief of staff, said Ms. Donovan had no intention of mounting an attack on the blue laws and would ask Mr. Christie to lift the suspension starting next Sunday. She said selective enforcement would have confused shoppers and hampered recovery efforts as retailers and shoppers tried to rebound from the storm. "I would remind the mayor that it's one day, and we hope that he and the residents of Paramus would have compassion for what these people have suffered through and what they've lost," Ms. Baratta said. Who are we to tell them what they should be buying, what they shouldn't be buying and what they need to replace? But few shoppers on Sunday seemed to view the opening of the malls as anything but an opportunity to browse the holiday sales, start their Christmas shopping or run errands that they might have done anyway. Rhonda Chaudhary, 40, had taken advantage of Garden State Plaza's being open to do some early Christmas shopping with her daughter. With relatives in California, she explained, they had to mail their presents in the first week of December. And they had already lost a week of shopping because of the storm. Not that their shopping was restricted to Sunday: They had also spent nearly 11 hours shopping the day before. Shopping is essential! How can he say shopping isn't essential? Ms. Chaudhary, of Fairview, N.J., said of Mr. LaBarbiera. It's ridiculous how far we have to go on Sundays to shop. Several of the mall's stores had elected to stay closed, including Apple, Club Monaco, Kay Jewelers, Brookstone and J. C. Penney. But many did open. "Today's like a second Friday, not as good as a Saturday but better than a Monday and Tuesday combined," said Sergio Cuellar, 22, the proprietor of a stand selling remotely controlled toy helicopters. I need a day off, too. But you got to do what you have to do. Residents who staunchly support the blue laws presumably stayed away from the malls on Sunday. But there were those who, despite their stubborn opposition to shopping on Sundays, could be found running an errand, or three - and found it not so bad after all. One of them, Christopher Clarke, 66, was at Home Depot buying wallboard for repairs to his home, which had been damaged after his washing machine broke. He said he opposed lifting the blue laws. "Well, if it's an emergency," he conceded, "that's O.K. for maybe one week. But I don't want it to continue. Robert Fullem, 50, of Ridgewood, N.J., had picked up gas cans and batteries at Home Depot as he passed through Paramus. He said he had grown up in Bergen County and had always respected the blue laws, adding that he was "a bit shocked and disappointed" to hear of their suspension. "We need to go to church and play football on Sunday," he said, over protests from his children, who liked the idea of buying toys and candy on future Sundays. But Mr. Fullem said that he had seen Home Depot's "Open Sunday" sign on the road and, well, he needed the supplies. "It was just convenient and on the way," he said with a shrug.