Closed at Noon on Wednesdays

[oley55]

The other day I was chatting with one of my grandsons about where he wanted to get his first part-time job and I mentioned when I was a kid nearly every business in town was closed on Wednesday afternoons, PERIOD. I didn't know why then and still don't today. Although someone once told me it was so folks who had to work all week had a day where they could do their shopping and banking, which of course made zero sense then or now since all the other businesses were closed.

I was just now doing a search and found a couple articles proposing different reasons, but both articles identified it as a Southern small town thing. Problem here is my pre/early teens were in far Northwest Pennsylvania up against the Ohio state line (making me a Damn Yankee by birth) and businesses in both Jamestown, PA and Andover, OH were indeed closed Wednesday afternoons. My grasp of US geography places those childhood towns somewhere NOT in the South, but firmly in rural farm country USA. Having moved to Florida in 1969, I do not recall the Wednesday closure being so prevalent.

So, does anyone have a known reason for businesses of old being closed on Wednesday afternoons?

[poppy42]

I don’t remember all businesses being closed on Wednesdays but I certainly remember you couldn’t get a doctors appointment on Wednesday when I was a kid!And I grew up on Long Island in a communist state of New York

[Mk42gunner]

It may have had something to do with the fact that churches regularly held Wednesday evening services. Just a guess.

Robert

[lancem]

I remember being told it was so people could go to mass. Don't know if that makes any sense as I'm not Catholic.

[Jeff Michel]

Wednesday was a traditional church night and Saturdays, stores were open half a day as well. Of course no one except the Lord was open for business on Sunday.

[oley55]

One of the articles proposed it was a WWII Victory Garden thing, where FDR encouraged everyone to create home vegetable gardens so other resources could go to our servicemen and women. The Wednesday afternoon was so everyone could pitch in. After the war it just remained.

Just one of the several proposed reasons.

[skeettx]

I remember when restaurants were closed on Monday

[35isit]

In the small Ky. town I grew up in. Most business' were closed on Thursday afternoon.

[Kylongrifle32]

I don't remember when it changed late 90' or early 2000's but the small town near where I hunted most of the major stores and Court house we're closed on Wednesday. Spring turkey season opened on Wednesday and I would always forget and go to town for lunch on opening day. Would have to get chips and a candy bar from the only open gas station outside of town.

[Finster101]

In the small Ky. town I grew up in. Most business' were closed on Thursday afternoon.

What town would that be? I Spent a lot of time around Columbia and Russell Springs.

[Handloader109]

As late as mid 1980s, Lagrange Ga had a lot of business closed Thursday afternoon. Most as they were open half day on Saturday and you didn't have to pay OT to do this.

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[Silvercreek Farmer]

Dump is closed on Wednesdays. Gets me more often than I’d like to admit…

[dannyd]

I believe if you could get in the Way Back Machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman; you would fine the closing had more to do with the new over time wage law passed before WW2. Closed half day on Wednesday so you could stay open half day on Saturday without having to pay overtime. This law was enacted not to help the employees make more money, but pressure employers to hire more people.

Saturday would have been a much busier day also than Wednesday.

Believe the law went into effect 1938 or 1939; in 1940 the US still had 20% unemployment on down 5 points from 25% at the height of the depression.

[Winger Ed.]

The small town in Mississippi where my grandparents lived was like that.
Almost all the businesses were closed on Sundays and Thursdays at least into the late 70s.

[Noah Zark]

In my small town, predominantly Catholic, businesses closed on Wed afternoons since before WWII, and a Mass was scheduled for Wed at 1400. There are still two businesses that close Wed afternoon, but it's been decades since a Mass was scheduled then.

Noah

[cwtebay]

I close for appointments on Tuesday afternoon every week. It's so my help can get their appointments done.

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[Walks]

I remember when restaurants were closed on Monday

Yep, Me too.

Maybe they all closed early because all the new movies opened on Wed.

[samari46]

Another ex new yorker who escaped over 30 years ago. Used to joke doctors closed on Wednesday so that they could play golf. Down here in Louisiana a lot of doctors have a half a day on Friday. After living down here for all these years still trying to figure that one out. I know one does his surgeries on Thursdays. Frank

[35isit]

What town would that be? I Spent a lot of time around Columbia and Russell Springs.
Nicholasville. Just south of Lexington. I shoot trap on Saturday nights occasionally in Russel Springs.

[Combatmedic63]

I grew up in Alaska and don't ever remember any business who closed at noon on Wednesday. Maybe a regional thing???

[gwpercle]

It may have had something to do with the fact that churches regularly held Wednesday evening services. Just a guess.

Robert

That was my first thought ... Wednesday night was prayer meeting service for us Southern Baptist ...
Sunday mornings was the big service ... then Sunday night was another service , not as big or as long ... then to keep us on the straight and narrow ... Wednesday night prayer meeting except every now and again they would hold a Business Meeting ... just a little praying and a lot of talkin about what to do and how to raise money .
But ... I don't remember stores being closed on Wednesday afternoon ... my Daddy worked all day , my Mom worked all day and when I got old enough to get a jub ...I worked all day on Wednesday's .
I do well remember every store being closed on Sunday ... and I mean EVERY store and you couldn't buy any adult beverages on Sunday either . I think Service Stations were even closed ... if you needed gas or beer you had to buy it Saturday or wait till Monday .
The first store to be open on Sunday in Baton Rouge was when a 7-11 opened up ... man that was something ... being able to buy something on Sunday and they had two pumps for getting gasoline and open from 7 am to 11 pm ... seven days a week ...WOW !
Gary

[poppy42]

Another ex new yorker who escaped over 30 years ago. Used to joke doctors closed on Wednesday so that they could play golf. Down here in Louisiana a lot of doctors have a half a day on Friday. After living down here for all these years still trying to figure that one out. I know one does his surgeries on Thursdays. Frank

Yep left that out of my post, everybody Used to say doctors offices were closed on Wednesday so Doctors could play golf

[bangerjim]

Wed closures were church-related.

Our little town in Iowa stayed open until 9PM every Friday night.

[Ithaca Gunner]

We still have a lot of ''Blue Laws'' on the books here in PA. Through the mid-70's most stores were closed on Sundays and what was open was restricted on what you could buy. You could buy, (if open) gas, newspapers, food staples, medicines, and first aid items if the store felt like going through the bother of only selling those items. No department stores open, few restaurants, or anything other than some ''mom&pop'' stores and some gas stations. I don't remember many places closing early on Wednesday's though. I do remember all the barbers and gun shops being closed on Thursday's! I was sure it was a conspiracy and these guys were all together at some secret lodge or something! Turned out the gun shops used Thursday's to get their special order and stock stuff from the wholesalers for Friday, their busiest day, and I imagine the barbers just took the day off because they were open Saturday's, their busiest day.

[BigAlofPa.]

Here in the coal regions. Wednesday was a 1/2 holiday for the longest time.

[Hogtamer]

Waynesboro Ga stores closed on Thursdays at noon. The best dove shoots were on Thursday and Saturday afternoons. Daddy used to come get me out of school on Thursdays at lunch not to miss a one. He was the Baptist preacher and got invited on them all! Church supper and prayer meeting was on Wednesday night.

[JohnH]

Northwest Pennsylvania up against the Ohio state line (making me a Damn Yankee by birth)

I married a Damn Yankee from up in your parts, Pittsburg to be exact. Her Dad worked for AT&T after the war and he found himself up there, married him a sweet Yankee girl. When he retired (health forced it in early '70's) he moved back down here to be near family and in the late '70's his daughter and I met and became a thing. My Dad was from North west Indiana and after the war found himself working for Lockheed where he met my Mom, (who'd been a secretary for Bell Bomber during the war) and that's how I came to be. Now I don't know a lot of particulars about my Dads side but on my mothers side i have two grandfathers 3 times removed, one from Tennessee who rode in a Union Cavalry, the other fought with the the Rebs and was at at Appomattox both times. That man was at almost every major engagement of the war and I figure he must have walked a couple million miles in those few years. Those two men were my grandmothers grandfathers, the one from Tennessee, the other from Georgia. I've often wondered how those two men felt toward one another.

I said all that to say this, I'm about as an unconstituted Rebel as you can get though a few things we should have sworn off, we'd all been the better for it. I think our federal government is way over bloated and way out of control and I don't think what we got is anything like what the Founders had in mind. Having come from a long line of Yankee's, Damn Yankees and Rebs, if ya love guns, our Constitution and believe in a federal government who's first priority should be to protect and defend our rights, I'll stand with ya any day I don't care where you're from.

(PS, Georgia town I grew up in rolled up tighter'n the stictchin' on baseball come Wednesday noon. Don't see that no more)

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Was in London many years back and was surprised that the pubs closed at 11 p.m. Was told that when the Nazis were bombing they instituted that closing time and then just stuck with it after the war. The bar keeper would say "gentlemen please" as 11 p.m. neared.

[myg30]

My wife being from Michigan said she remembers growing up hearing that Wednesday was 1/2 day because Catholic school children had to go to catechism. She was not a catholic.
I’m Catholic (not a good one) and grew up on Long Island and all or most business were only closed Sundays!
I really wish we had that again because it was ALWAYS sit down dinner at home and we all were together. ( like on the tv show Blue bloods)

Mike

[Shepherd2]

We moved near a small town in southern Ohio that closed up at noon on Thursday. I asked a few of the merchants and business people why. The usual answer was that it had always been that way.

[bedbugbilly]

I was born and raised in southern Michigan (still live in the same town) and I don't ever remember businesses closing on Wednesday afternoon. At the time, it was a small farming community mostly and my folks had a business - it was open from 8 to 5 Monday thru Saturday - 6 days a week. On Friday nights, the stores uptown would stay open as that's when a lot of the farmers and their families came to town to shop. I do remember that is was common for the businesses to shut down if there was a funeral for a well known businessman or woman or a popular resident. They would close for the time of the funeral so those who wanted to could attend. I can remember when my grandfather died and we were in the car following the hearse to the cemetery . . . it went through the downtown which wasn't really large and those that hadn't attended the funeral lined the streets to pay their respects as he had been a long time businessman who was known to everybody. Both sides of the street were lined with residents - the men with their hats off and the women as well standing. You don''t see tjomgs ;ole that much anymore.

I'm wondering if it was a "southern thing"? I know in our small community we have a Presbyterian, Episcopal and a Baptist Church. I had classmates that were Baptist and it was a fairly strict church IIRC. They had prayer meeting services every Wednesday night that lasted for several hours as the kids were always trying to get their school work done so they didn't have homework as they wouldn't get hoe until after 9 on Wednesday nights.

Interesting the different customs different towns had back when we were kids 60 or 65 years ago.