A Camden, N.J., ordinance that forces restaurants, food stores and other retail businesses to close up early has been upheld against suits that sought to block it, one of them lodged by 7-Eleven Inc.

Superior Court Judge F.J. Fernandez-Vina ruled Monday that the curfew, which aims to curtail crime around businesses near residences, "is a valid exercise of police power by the governing body and is not a land use ordinance as argued by plaintiffs."