To think it is time to extend Sunday opening hours?

[Sundayopeningplease]

It really is time for the restrictive Sunday trading hours to be lifted. The archaic laws have not kept up with modern society.

Sunday may traditionally have been a family day but there have been a lot of changes since then. People are in increasingly different family set ups. The working hours have changed for a lot of people and being able to shop on a Sunday morning would improve things greatly. It would help trade for businesses too.

Sunday is now a major shopping day and the hours need to reflect this.

It's 11-5 or 10-4 here depending on shop

I agree! There’s no need for them to be open on Sundays..

I agree.

I'm in Scotland with relaxed opening hours on a Sunday. Doesn't mean I have to go if I don't want to. I can still have a relaxed Sunday.

Slower Sunday please to stop people overspending.

I’ve worked in retail for well over 30 years. When I started no bank holiday or Sunday trading.
I’ve worked in shopping centres open 9-11 and I’m now in a smaller location. Small stores can trade more than 5-6 hours on a Sunday. It’s telling that few choose to do so.
During covid, we were so limited on how many customers could enter, we had to work v hard to be profitable.
Opening more hours generally just spreads the money out but the costs up. It’s generally not productive.

What a lot of negative Nancys there are on this post! I totally agree with OP. I remember during the 2012 Olympics they scrapped the Sunday trading hours and it was so much easier. You could shop whenever you wanted instead of having to plan it around the opening hours.

To everyone saying "you should be able to plan your shopping within the six days they're open" who wants to plan their life to that extent?! Monday to Friday everything has to fit to a schedule, at weekends it's nice to be able to just wake up and do what you fancy. And if that's shopping at 8am on a Sunday to then have the rest of the day free then so be it!

You guys do realise if they extended the opening hours you wouldn't HAVE to shop then?! You can still have your family day at home while others get their shopping done.

I’ve always thought of it as a bit odd that shops are open full days Mon-Fri when I can’t go to them as I have an office job, but then on the weekend we have reduced hours when more people want to shop…

I work in a convenience sized supermarket and we open 6 - 10 every day. It's very quiet first thing during the week though but quite busy weekend mornings for bakery items.
I personally work mon-fri so never do weekends but we have a few students who do unless there's a party they want to recover from.
We also have an incorporated post office and the number of people who expect it to open the same hours as the shop is ridiculous. As previously said everyone could try to be more organised.

Also, public transport is shite here on a Sunday and Bank Holiday so I used to have to get a taxi to work. It was expensive being a retail worker on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

How is taking a child shopping giving them bad habits for life?! Also what do you suggest single parents do? If you're at work while the child is at school you have no choice but to take them with you when you go shopping. Unless you're shopping for crack and dildos, I don't see how it's teaching them bad habits.

Weird argument pp are making about being forced to work. Hospitality and NHS open, why should retail be some sort of protected category? Of course the laws should change as they are based on religious ideas which are not relevant. As a multicultural society shopping and religious observance sh0uld be de linked!

NHS is an essential service. People who work in the NHS do so knowing it's a 24/7 service.

@Boomboom22 you've purposely ignored the reference to the hospitality industry. Not an essential service but still open 24/7.

So do you want unessential services to close on a Sunday?

Because hospitality and entertainment are still open on Sundays. All this faux concern over shop workings spending a Sunday morning with their family but where is the outrage over waiters, chefs, ushers in cinemas working on a Sunday?

Yes, extended opening hours work for me because I work long and unusual hours. It’s how intensive care units are staffed. I require no help with organisation and it’s very likely indeed I work many more hours than the average smug person responding that they ‘work full time and have children’. I also liked being able to buy a coffee before my 13 hour Christmas Day shift.

I know people find it extremely difficult to imagine that others may have different working patterns. These people seem to be able to come to terms with it when their loved ones need help outside 9-5, I note.

@Swiftswatch again, they're all people who've chose to work in those roles knowing what the working hours are. To extend working hours for existing staff is pretty crap when they're being paid minimum wage.

I wonder if anyone is forcing those people to shop who want life to ‘slow down on Sunday’s’. This Little Britain attitude usually comes from the same people who tell you to support your local shops even if it costs more.

Some people are so detached from the real world and the challenges other people face, that they think everyone else lives in la la land just like them.

Yes because breaking your leg requiring emergency surgery and needing a croissant at 9am on a Sunday are equivalent needs that both require 24/7/365 staffing.

@mumof1or2 You are right - if supermarkets opened all day Sunday we don't have to shop in them - BUT the people who work there do have to go in, so when do they get their family day?

I was pleased that many shops decided not to open on Boxing Day this year. It is about time that work life balance was taken into consideration in this country. Far too many people in low paid jobs are working at times when they could be home with their families.

I cannot believe that people lack the ability to manage for one day a week without going shopping.

Are you aware you’re utterly batshit or has that fact passed you by?

"Religious ideas" are very relevant to some people.

Where I used to live (in UK) Jewish grocers' shops, tailors and Kosher butchers shut on a Saturday and were open all day Sunday.

I'm not sure about Seventh Day Adventists, who also have their Sabbath on a Saturday. Maybe someone of that denomination can give the answer?

I think there is a bias on here, as we almost all have lives revolving around kids routines, and it's more of an issue for people with different lifestyles.

If I was a shift worker, or working 6 days per week, or a carer who only had respite on a Sunday, then I would want to spend my Sunday with my family, or out doing something fun - not having to do my weekly food shop bang in the middle of the day.

I think back to my 20s, when I was in a stressful job, working until 9pm every weekday, working during the day on Saturdays, and out 9am - 6pm doing a hobby every Sunday. It seems unimaginable now, tbh, but it was normal at the time.

The answer would be for supermarkets to specifically recruit weekend workers, rather than forcing current weekday workers to work weekends.

When shops close at 4pm on a Sunday, it doesn't mean that staff can just go home early . There's deliveries to unload and unpack which is a task that takes hours.

There will be people grateful for the extra hours as they don't have local family or need extra income because of the Cost of Living crisis. Why should they be limited?

If people really believed in protecting family time they'd refrain from Internet orders being delivered on a Sunday and wouldn't be on here do moderators didn't have to work. They wouldn't eat out past Sunday lunchtime or pop to the local little supermarket or garage after Sunday 4pm because they'd like those workers to be at home too.

The issue with saying "you don't have to go just because they're open" is that someone has to be at work for them to be open and this costs money. It is also off putting to those who's lifestyle it suits to work in a job with a shorter working day once a week (like students or those who work part time due to having a family).

On top of that, longer trading hours does not equal higher footfall and more spending. In fact, most high street shops could probably do with opening later and closing earlier on most days of the week.

Finally, even the smallest villages tend to have a "convenience store" nearby, a Tesco express is open 7-11 even on a Sunday and I see no need for a large Tesco extra to spend £££ to be open longer than 6 hours to accommodate a very small demographic of people.

@calimali I cannot believe that people lack the ability to manage for one day a week without going shopping.

Why can’t you believe it though?
What I can’t believe is how many people struggle to understand that other people’s week looks different.
Monday to Friday I’m out of the house at 7am for work, by 5 I’m doing nursery pick up. I don’t drive and I have my work bag, child’s nursery bag so it’s too difficult to buy more than a handful of items plus child is ready for tea and bath so I need to go straight home. Can’t go later because child is in bed, can’t exactly shop earlier than 7am in the morning.
So already 5 days are taken out of the equation.