Hasidic Retailers In Williamsburg Seek To Impose Dress Code On Customers

The New York Post today reports on the growing trend in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn for retail stores owned by Hasidic Jews to try to impose a dress code on all their customers.  Stores, including hardware, clothing and electronic retailers, have posted signs in English and Spanish reading "No Shorts, No Barefoot, No Sleeveless, No Low Cut Neckline Allowed in the Store."  Williamsburg is the home to many Hasidic Jews, but also is a center for the arts and music that the Post describes as a "hipster haven." (See Free Williamsburg blog.) An Orthodox resident of Williamsburg says: "We’re not concerned about the way women dress in Manhattan — but we are concerned with bringing 42nd Street to this neighborhood." Cardozo Law Professor Marci Hamilton says: "It’s further evidence of this era’s move toward Balkanization in the United States." The signs do not appear to violate any state or federal statutes.