To think local shops should have longer opening hours.

[PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange]

my local butcher has lovely meat at reasonable prices, always fresh and taste a lot better than the supermarket.

Problem is the shop shuts at 4:30, now I know it's the owners business and the owner can dictate opening hours. However I think in this 24/7 world local shops are missing out on a huge chunk of trade by closing before typical working hours.

In our local paper recently people have been moaning about the opening of a new Sainsburys Local in our village, and how it would kill all the other shops. The butchers and the bakers both close at 4.30, the local small chain supermarket at 6. I've tried to visit the electrical shop three times in the last week to get a light bulb - each time it's been shut with a sign on the door saying 'back in 20 mins'. The reality is people work longer or more flexible hours, commute longer distances so use shops which are open at more convenient hours.

the reality is that most people shop in supermarkets anyway so what keeps these shops alive is the "grey" pound. The people no longer in work who like small quantities of each meat/veg/fruit/bread product

People always say they will shop local if the shop is open longer, but they rarely do for more than a few weeks - the convenience of picking up all the shopping at once wins out.

Maybe he has a life and likes being at home doing his hobby or being with his family.

I think all shops should close at 5pm half day Saturday and closed on Sundays................

But then nobody would know what to do on a Sunday......... people have become boring [some people] as a lot of people shop for a pass time not for necessity.

For the sake of his business he should probably open longer hours, but maybe he's worked hard all his life and is winding down a bit, or maybe he thinks he and his staff should have a family life.

I agree with chiefbrody. It's not that long ago that those were normal opening hours. No-one starved, people actually got to spend their leisure time with their families.

Does it open early? Ours is open 7.30am-5.30pm so though it might miss lots of traffic after work it does seem to be busy first thing in the morning and on Saturdays queues are down the street. They also deliver and you can order on line and collect.

Yabu. As you say its his business, he can do what he wants. I don't understand this 'well he could make more money if he opened longer'. Its not always the case and maybe they are happy with their life/work balance and that's more important that more money.

"I think all shops should close at 5pm half day Saturday and closed on Sundays................"

So chiefbrody, you think that everyone who works full time should have to do all their shopping in a couple of hours on a Saturday morning or go without? That sounds practical!

In my neighbourhood I think a butcher with later hours wouldn't survive. When school and college finish there's very little passing trade. However in the next town to us there are a good few shops (mainly aimed at the middle class mums and the hipsters - anyone local to this area will know what I mean when I say Unicorn and the wrong type of quinoa :o). These shops are independent, pricy but very busy. The butcher I go to when I'm in that area is so busy that he serves people through the window if they don't want to come inside. Round here we'd be arrested for looting.

I think small shops might do well to open 12 til 8 instead of 9 to 5 a couple of days in the week. The sad reality is that many people cannot get to them during their current opening hours.

I don't want to dedicate weekends to boring things like shopping, so would rather do it after work in the week. I have a farm shop I usually use which is open till 5.30 so can get to it by leaving work earlier than normal (we have core hours/flexitime).

I generally buy large packs to split and freeze so only have to go every month or two instead of weekly.

i see a lot of threads like this get the usual blinkered responses, and bingo we have them here:

example:
well it was better in the old days, it used to work fine, we just have unrealistic expectations now
... meanwhile forgetting that families have become increasingly two-breadwinner households over the last few decades, or one-breadwinner-one-part-timer.
perhaps it used to work fine when the little wifey had nothing better to do than go to 5 different specialist local shops in the local area whilst her husband was in an office.
for the rest of us not in the rosy-tinted 1950s, we're already struggling to fit in more working hours, work around childcare.
can you imagine if the retail world hadn't responded and the opening hours of the evening and weekends was still rare? we'd have plenty more stressed parents and a stilted economy, parents who want to work facing even more logistical challenges.

i thought we were meant to be in favour of making working parents' lives easier. how is going back to a 1950s style retail world going to facilitate that?

well it's not a problem for me, i manage it around fulltime work
... said by people who presumably are able-bodied and don't have commitments like commuting 2hrs each way into work, and have free time on Saturday mornings to get to the shops they want to. Which again, is great for them, but has an attitude of "well i'm alright jack".

the fact is that all of this is moot anyway - businesses saw an opportunity (a need to provide non-traditional hours of opening) and they've made money out of it. the ones who don't open later will either die off OR respond accordingly (for example, maybe they make enough profit that they don't need to extend their opening hours).

Same problem here... We have a lovely old fashioned hardware shop, but he shuts at 5pm all week, and is then only open until 11:30 on saturdays. It kills me every time I have to go to Homebase, but we don't have much option.
We used to have 2 butchers. One had the foresight to extend their opening hours, take credit cards and even set up a loyalty card scheme for a free pack of sausages! They were really popular and had queues coming out of the door. The other one moaned bitterly about it being unfair on him, and eventually closed, but I think that just shows that people are very happy to support local shops, just as long as they can get to use them at times that are convenient...

We have similar issues here too. I live in a lovely seaside town with lots of locally owned shops, that I'd love to support, but their opening times are just so awkward, and downright random, that I just can't get to them.

I've tried to go to our little hardware shop about 3 times lately, but ended up ordering it online as it was shut every time I made it into town.

There's always lots of moaning about how bad business is, or the council are killing off tourism, car parking charges are to blame, etc, etc, etc, and I agree, these are issues, but also, if a shop is never open in the first place or has really awkward opening hours then all the free car parking in the world isn't going to help.

I took my children for a wander into town after dinner for an ice cream a couple of weeks ago. It was the Easter holidays, gorgeous evening so loads of people having a mooch in town, but everywhere was shut (the ice cream shop's opening hours are 10am - 4pm). All the little knickknack shops and gallery type places which are very seasonal/tourist dependant were shut. They could have made a killing. We ended up Sainsbury's and bought a multi pack of Magnums, I'd have much rather bought the lovely locally made ice cream that the shop sells, but if they're not open, I have to take my money elsewhere

I totally understand that the owners want to be off enjoying the gorgeous weather and the school holidays too, but when you're running businesses like these, you have to make hay while the sun shines

Just double-checked my local butcher's opening hours. 7.30 - 4.30. I've never felt the need to pop out for sausages so early, which probably explains why I visit once a year for the turkey.
But if the owner makes enough to survive & the hours work for him then it's his business.

chiefbrody are you serious about I think all shops should close at 5pm half day Saturday and closed on Sundays ?

Perhaps they should all open the same hours including early closing on Wednesday and be tied by retail price maintenance again?

Or how about a bit of competition?

I now work weekends. Then on my days off if week days I do a few bank shifts.

I used to also volunteer at a shelter Friday nights. Can't do that no more due to working Saturday am.

The reality is there is no time to shop local, so I have to use tesco as its the nearest supermarket.