To be thinking about Easter Sunday shopping laws

[JellyfishandShells]

DH and I were just discussing our food options for the next week. We have no problems in getting what we need (SW London) - supermarkets well stocked around here and we are very flexible about when we can shop.

Just checked and the usual Easter Sunday closure is on the timetables of all our local stores. It’s an anomaly, a concession given to the anti campaign in the 80s, when Sunday opening was first allowed. The reason given was that staff and customers would be able to go to church on an important day in the religious calendar.

Not religious myself, and not bringing this up as a general discussion point, but at this time I think an exception could be considered. It is going to increase the number of people who are still working a traditional week, either from home or physically there , having to do their shopping on Friday or Saturday. The queues on those days will be proportionately longer. Stores have taken on a lot of new staff, on flexible contracts, so could surely cover the hours.

During my once weekly shop yesturday I noticed one particular employee who is usually bubbly and full of life looking completely drained and fit to drop. I came home and cried for her. Yes they more than deserve the supermarkets to be closed tomorrow. Anyone who things otherwise needs to give their head a wobble.

No but it means they get an EXTRA day off!!

I guarantee for most it won't be an extra day off. Managers will get around this by rota-ing people's days off for Easter Sunday, and they then have one other day off in the week instead.

That's my experience of retail. I used to be contracted Sundays. Easter Sunday, you had it rota'd as a day off and worked a different day in the week instead. If you wanted it as an extra day off, then you had to use annual leave.

Hopefully this crisis will have taught us that these workers are important people and deserve to be treated with respect.

you can't have it both ways. I don't disagree that supermarket workers are key workers - but then they are needed.
It's not my own convenience the problem, it's the reality of life today.

People can't get delivery slots anymore, even the ones who used to rely on them. Queues are very long to enter supermarkets - as they should. So what about people who find it hard to stand for too long?

Closing shops means increased queues the other days. Not everybody has a car either, and can carry bags of shopping to avoid the bank holiday weekend..

Either you are a key worker or you are not. I still think shops should all close on Sundays, but not during the pandemic.

@sewingsinger I agree. It's seriously not hard to get two days food instead of one days food when you go into a supermarket. They don't have to be open every bloody hour, 7 days a week.

It's people wanting convenience and not giving a damn about the inconvenience to others. Many countries close their shops on Sunday, every Sunday, and people still manage because they get off their backsides and sort out a shop earlier in the week. Many have early closing days too and people manage. It's not hard.

And of course, all those who are at home on Sundays could go into work in solidarity for the NHS etc who have to work. Are would you prefer to spend time with your family...

I live the fact the shops are shut on Easter Sunday. I personally feel they should be closed on every bank holiday. The convenience of shopping when ever we want to for whatever we desire has led to a really awful attitude during this lockdown. People are refusing to only shop for essentials and are carrying on like this is some kind of extended holiday at home.

Yes, I think the shop workers need a break after all. You can always order online anyway..

*It's not like most people will be having the usual Easter lunch surrounded by family

Indeed plus Ramadam is starting on 23rd. Which is a time I would imagine people normally get together as well.

Apologies to Jewish Mumsnetters - forgot about Passover!!

People are refusing to only shop for essentials
You k is this is ridiculous, right thesedays? Once you are in the shop you are perfectly entitled to buy what you want - in fact it’s better to buy a lot so that a) you di t have to go out again for longer, and b) there’s some money moving around the economy.
I think shops should be shut this Sunday though.

Excuse typos. Hope you can work out my meaning.

Like a lot of people, supermarket staff are working sooo hard right now and putting themselves at risk, and not always getting the recognition for it, I really think they deserve the day off. I do see your point though OP!

I would have thought that there are a vast number of you that have been able to spend more time with your lovely partner and children, to even have the luxury of being bored ( yes I do realise that is not the case with everyone), that you have recognised that there is joy in more family time and being able to be together as a unit. That you would be able to recognise that supermarket workers have not done that. They don't do enough of that with the shift pattens they do ever.

Instead shopworkers days have been filled with anxiety, you know that anxiety you feel when you have to go to the supermarket, worried you may bring the virus home to your loved ones? That fills every working day for shopworkers. Then on top of that they are holding the responsibility they could be giving it to anyone/everyone they serve if one of their customers unknowingly passes it to them.

They are tired of being observant of the 2m distancing with every customer, and nudging customers (who don't always want to be nudged) into the safest position for them and the checkout colleague. Tired of telling them they can't have five bags of pasta (thank you those that don't do this). Ache from having to give every item of shopping an extra push so that it is easier for them to pack at the very end of the till.

Please just let everyone have one bloody day off will you.

I get the shopping for everything in one go @Cardi but people are browsing in order to buy these extras, making it harder to maintain social distancing and keeping the queues longer. If people know what they want and go get it fair enough but to stand there picking things up and down and generally mulling things over is not what they are supposed to be doing. 20 minutes choosing which garden toy little Johnny might like the best is 20 minutes extra someone is stood outside in a queue.

Everyone should only be shopping once a week anyway and it'll be nice for the staff to have a break!

Please just let everyone have one bloody day off will you.

I bet you'll be the first to moan if ALL key workers were having a day off too. Emergencies, utilities, entertainment.. that's a lot of people who need a day off.

@cardibach people are going to stores to purchase garden supplies, paint for decorating their homes and gardens hot tubs and trampolines and not food or supplies that are essential to live. I blame the companies for keeping those items for sale. It's all about the profit not the safety of their workers. No matter what the government do these people only care about what they want. Not what is recommended and will always believe they aren't doing anything wrong as these things are essential to them. The amount of entitled people kicking off at the rules or insisting they don't have to follow them is mind blowing.

I think should should remain closed on easter sunday, its only on xmas day and easter sunday they close, i think the nation can cope, I think they should close boxing day too. The staff deserve a break.
They are still open late for those working traditional hours but tbh so many are furloughed that they can now shop during the week when they wouldn't normally be able to do so.

I get where you're coming from OP but even if people can't really do anything, they'll probably appreciate a day off. It must be massively stressful working in retail at the moment - stupid head office rules, annoyed customers and fears for their safety.

@thesedaysarescary I agree that there’s no need to go to a DIY store unless for eg your toilet is broken, but that isn’t what you said.

I work in a supermarket and we close for literally 2 days a year - Easter Sunday and Christmas Day.

We are looking forward to the shop being closed because the staff contracted to Sundays are looking forward to a chance for the day off (and since most colleagues work either a Saturday or a Sunday, they will actually get an entire weekend off which is only guaranteed to happen once a year over the Easter weekend) and those who have chosen to work, or have volunteered to work, will have the luxury of finally being able to get caught up with all the "non essential" jobs that still need doing but havent been priority without having to stop every 5 minutes because there's too many customers in the aisles or they can't get the equipment they need to use onto the shop floor because social distancing means that there just isnt enough space for them to work and for customers to shop etc ... it also gives the cleaning team a chance to give the high traffic areas - eg checkouts - a good deep clean, on top of their usual cleaning and the cleaning that colleagues have been helping out with, because again social distancing has limited the time they can spend in one place without it causing backlogs of customers in the aisles.

I am currently working 12 hour days, 5 days a week, and it is stressful knowing you are putting yourself at risk every day for customers to shop, especially when you see people waiting in the queue for 15/20 minutes only to come in, buy a paper, pack of fags and can of coke at the cigarette kiosk and walk straight back out. That is not an essential shop, especially when they are doing that daily.

If you cannot cope with the store being closed for one day then there is a serious problem. Nobody will starve because they have to wait until Monday to shop. They may not spend Easter Sunday eating exactly what they want but nobody is going to starve for the sake of one day.

The main reason people do big shopping trips over Easter is due to having larger gatherings at home for Easter Sunday - which will no longer be happening; their children are off school so parents usually have to stock up extra stuff for them for the Easter holidays - kids have been off school for weeks so parents generally have adjusted their shopping already; it's a Bank Holiday weekend so people are usually off work for extra days so make the most of the chance to pop to the supermarket when they finish work on the Thursday or on the Friday/Monday, instead of their usual weekend big shop - most people are now off work entirely so shopping on a Friday is no longer a "luxury" because they have a long weekend, it's just any other shopping day.

I don't understand it. I know that people are eating at home more because they can't eat out and aren't getting their lunch in Greggs etc, but surely people aren't needing this much extra food all the time? It's not like people are hosting dinners for the extended family over the holiday weekend is it?*

But people ARE trying to avoid having to go to the shop at all. Therefore when you do go you get as much as possible to last as long as possible before you have to put yourself at risk again.

in some parts of Europe Sunday trading laws are often stricter; in Germany in particular and certainly at Easter, personally I think we would all be healthier if we didn't have a 24/7 type society shops open long hours is common in USA but not in most of Europe away from large tourist areas shops shut outside business hours
even in UK apart from Supermarkets and chains lots of independent shops shut on Sundays still

even in these circumstances people can manage with one day of shops shut, they shut every Easter it is not a surprise

Ours haven't been open on Easter Sunday for a long time.

Supermarkets open as normal in Scotland. I don’t think we observe the Easter holidays.

Of course we do, it’s usually a bank holiday here too.

We have different trading laws than England though.

Get over your consumerism op. Should people not have family time? Has this crisis shown you nothing about what is really important?

Here in Spain shops shut at lunchtime on Saturday and don't open until Monday morning, every week. (Big supermarkets stay open til about 9.30pm on Saturdays but everything else shuts). There is at least one public holiday where all shops shut every month.

Our shops are closing Friday, Sunday and Monday to give supermarket staff a proper break. I wouldn't be surprised if they only open half day on Saturday.

Ignore me, I've not left home in weeks and I'm obviously losing the plot lol