To wonder why we still shut all the shops at5.30?

[Lanark2]

I work all week, often sleep in at the weekend, and get my shopping mojo at about 5 on a Saturday, but then all the shops shut..why? I have so many clothes and home items from supermarkets as a result.

How have we resisted a continental pattern, when we have the darkest evenings??

The thought of my family being forced to spend a day together is an actual contemplation of torture. The boys spend the whole fucking day sniping at each other. At least one of us ends up in tears every single Sunday.

Yabu - Shops are already open too long, I'm sure the staff don't want to work longer hours.

To open longer shops need to make more profit, there is no more money to go around or if there is it would barely cover the costs of keeping the shops open - I'm guessing that's why lots of supermarkets are already cutting their opening hours.

Our village has only just begun to embrace not having half day closing on a Wednesday, btw.

create new jobs for the same money during out of normal hour working, hence exploitation. Not sure how people don't see that.

Yabu. Retail staff need time off too. Maybe if they were paid double time to work late it might be ok, but staying late for minimum wage and paying for a taxi or waiting for a late bus home is crap.

Although on this subject I wish they would shut the shops on Boxing Day or stop with all the bloody Boxing Day sales madness. I do feel sorry for staff that not only have to work then but also work late Christmas Eve preparing for it all

I actually prefer shops to be closed on Sundays - forces you to relax and spend time outdoors, with your family. donning flame proof suit now

How?

I'd bet that more people would be indoors in front of the TV, rather than being motivated to go out and do things.

Infact, I don't think shop opening hours will have any effect on whether people are spending time with their family or not, or indoors or not, unless the person involved happens to work in the shop.

When I work past 10pm I get a little more. I won't say which supermarket I work for (it's not the local co-op previously mentioned, though I used to work there when I couldn't drive), but I get a little over min wage for regular hours, and about £2 more per hour after 10. I still never break the £9 / hour mark.

As always, I think these threads split into those who have nice, normal jobs, who get to have weekends and evenings and who have the leisure to go shopping at night, and the poor bastards who actually have to staff the damn shops.

Totally that too Lockheart.

As a retailer myself I can assure you were open long enough as it is!

This argument is a total double edged sword though. Shops can't afford to stay open because people prefer to stop online and don't appreciate it when we do stay open and people shop online because we're not open every single second of the effing day.

I work across an area that includes a huge shopping centre, when it closes at 11pm towards Xmas I've lost all Xmas spirit.....you just tell me again at 10.59pm how pissed off you are at the 5p bag, go on, I dare ya.

Shop staff work long hours & are poorly paid, mostly. They too would like to put their dc to bed & unwind. Longer opening hours have not, in my experience, resulted in that many more jobs. Mostly it's a case of stretching existing staff over the extra hours & with no option for the staff. Extra Sunday hours are not paid any differently for most staff - there are a few older companies who pay longer serving staff at enhanced rates but most are paying new recruits the same as normal days.

Why the constant need to shop? Do something else with your lives people! Stop accumulating stuff!

Why should just retail workers suffer? Why not 24 hour working for all then? After all why are office hours 9-5? Why are schools 8-3 & so on!

I used to get a day off in the week, great for shopping!

Why not take a day off and have lunch and shop all day?

I'm sure if there was enough demand the retailers would be petitioning the government to extend shopping hours. That it isn't happening tells me that sufficient demand isn't there for it

Meanwhile, here in Norway, most city centre shops close at 3pm on Saturday afternoon and stay shut till Monday. Other than in the last few weeks before Christmas, only shops under a certain size (which excludes most supermarkets) are allowed to open at all on Sundays. Personally I like it, now I'm used to it. It was a real shock to begin with.

I think shops should either extend their hours, or reduce them. The current hours are just annoying. I don't really like shopping, it's a necessary evil. I always remember something essential needed for school on Monday or whatever at 3.45 on a Sunday afternoon. Neither use nor ornament, Sunday opening hours, not if you like DOING things on a Sunday. Abolish completely so I don't kick myself, or extend.

Ditto the out of town Debenhams opening until 7pm. Great. You stay open while I'm feeding my son, then close when I could come out and buy shit. Extend your hours or shut the doors at 5.30pm.

You know, if you want a family day on the Sabbath, you can. It's not compulsory to go shopping.

What do you do for work, OP? Perhaps your workplace should stay open until late, staffed by you, so those finishing at 5 can make use of it.

I spent years working in various shops. The option to extend hours is just not profitable in most areas. I once worked for a summer in wilkinsons and they experimented with opening till 8 during the week. It was like a ghost town after 6ish. Just not worth the overheads.

Everybody talking about staff wanting time off - ever heard of shifts?

Triliteral - that is sooo different to London. At Christmas, Oxford Street has pedestrianised days because the crowds get so huge and to lure in even more shoppers.
I don't do Christmas shopping in the centre in the weeks before Christmas because it's just insane.
I do think there is Too Much Shopping - and that's from someone who likes visiting shops far more than visiting galleries and museums (and thinks of shops, lovingly, as museums of the Present).

I love "museums of the present". before I saw your post, thecatfromjapan, I was going to come on here to say that in general I think lots of things should be open in the evenings that aren't. Especially things that have nothing to do with booze and little to do with food. I would love to be able to meet people out of the rain after work and be able to stroll and look at things and mildly discuss them (or not, if we had better things to talk about) and not be effectively forced to shove things into my fat face at the same time.

NanaNina thing is what tends to happen is current staff get forced into working shifts whether they like it or not. So their retail job that once upon a time fit in nicely with family etc now has them working until 8-9 at night and ruining that. Retailers are all about maximising profit so they wouldn't necessarily employ more staff either. Just spread the current ones thinner.

My friend works in a big shopping centre they close at 9 or 10 the staff do shifts lots of places open late during theweek

I can tell you why it sucks.

Retail workers get no choice of when they work. 95% of retail jobs are less that 25 hours contract, certainly locally to me anyway. Head Office in these companies give stores a set budget for staff hours. This has to cover everything including maternity, sick pay if the worker actually qualifies for it, overtime. Stores get harassed if they go over the budget, and head offices are trying to squeeze as much profit as they can from each bricks and mortar location.
The money is not there to give staff already employed higher contract hours, nor is it available to employ more staff at lower contract hours. In fact, in April when the NLW is introduced staff members over the age of 25 may well find themselves being squeezed even harder, and be less likely to pick up available overtime because it will cost the business more to do so.

yeah I grew up in north america too, and it's really common for shopping centres to open until 9. Loads of shift workers, part times jobs for students are really popular, as you can work only a few hours each week if you want to. Seems to work OK there. It's much quieter to go in the evenings, nice to be able to browse. And several students with jobs can even do a bit of revision etc while they are there.

I don't mind Sunday hours either. Family time might be seen as ideal, but some of us don't have families. Or anything else. So going into town is actually quite nice, at least to have the option. Also I work most Saturdays, so I do appreciate Sunday hours.