BANGOR – Sale day is sale day, right? Not in Maine. The state’s blue laws prohibit retail businesses with more than 5,000 square feet of selling space and more than five employees from operating on Thanksgiving Day.

The national ads in newspapers and on television and radio may tout stores being open today because large retailers are allowed to do so on the holiday in other states. Some of those ads may appear in fliers in today’s Bangor Daily News.

That means some national retail stores make their special sale flier prices available in Maine on Wednesday and others wait until Friday and Saturday, but none of them can actually be “Thanksgiving Day” sales.