To think that Sunday trading hours need to be abolished?

[HFJ]

I remember the hullabaloo about Sunday trading back in the late 80s

Whenever I talk to people about this, many usually give the following reasons why Sunday trading restrictions are a good thing:

1. Everyone can have Sunday lunch/family time together
2. Retail workers can have some weekend time off

However, I can’t be the only person who thinks the above is BALONEY

On the family time thing, I object for feminist reasons because it usually means a hard-working woman somewhere has to peel potatoes and rustle up a Sunday lunch for everyone else. Then, when she has done all that, can she treat herself to an emergency handbag, pair of shoes, just get away and meet a friend for coffee, or perhaps get the family shopping in on before the working week starts? Can she heck. Why? Because of some Bishops in the house of lords decree that the world should shut and therefore her indoors should remain indoors.

On the weekend time off thing, I really don’t see what the issue is. There are plenty of students who would like to and need to work. Also, there’s nothing to stop religious workers asking their employer to prioritise time off on Sunday for them (just as Muslims, Jews, people with caring responsibilites can make requests).

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Shops and chains have been closing for a decade or two. It was happening long before covid. High Streets have been dying for a decade or two. Chains were collapsing a long time ago, i.e. C&A, Woolworths, Littlewoods, etc. Covid has accelerated the decline, but out of town retail parks and internet shopping started the demise 10-20 years ago.

@ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming I get 30 mins lunch which isn't long enough with traffic, parking, wanting to eat etc
Yes I WFH but my lunch and breaks are monitored so I can't be late back

I just food shop after work usually

There are several European countries where shops are closed on Sundays full stop. Germany is one of them, and I think Switzerland and Italy are others, there may be more. Have you ever arrived in France on a Sunday? Then you will know that it's like a ghost town with the exception of a few local shops maybe.

These countries manage, and none of them AFAIK are bastions of religious fervour either, but maybe there is a Protestant Puritan historical background somewhere in the mix.

I am not bothered either way. If shops and retail are closed I will know and do it another time or have it delivered. I think Sunday opening is partly to facilitate those working all week, but it is mostly used as a day out for all the family. Which is the primary reason I avoid it like the plague!

I don't live in the UK, and I can assure you that most times when I order from an actual shop the product comes from the actual shop. I'm not talking about nationwide chains, or supermarkets, I'm talking about a shop which just has one branch and no warehouse. I used to work in such a place, when someone placed an order someone took it off the shelf, packaged it and mailed it.

Even sometimes when I order from a nationwide chain the goods will come from whichever branch has that particular order in stock, rather than some central warehouse.

Isn't it strange how other countries can manage to navigate their way around shops not being open 24/7 and yet the UK can't possibly cope?

@ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming

Is the UK workplace so draconian that people don't get lunch breaks?

Trouble is that people don't necessarily work where the shops are anymore. It's not really possible if you work in a call centre at one side of town and the retail park is on the other side of town. Or if you work in the town centre, that's no help if the big supermarkets are out of town (or vice versa). The days are long gone where the shops were all in the town centre and there were also all the offices, factories, warehouses, etc all also within the town centre.

Agree. I just got two pricey items from Amazon delivered today because the local shop that may (not definitely) carry them shuts early M-F and is closed on Sunday.

Took me two minutes Thursday to make the order online. Yet Ive heard this shop's proprietor complain bitterly and often about Amazon. He just won't change to remain competitive.

Shrug. That's his problem.

We ran a high street shop when Sunday opening hours came in. All it did was increase our costs for no more business. It would be even worse now with so much done on line. The supermarkets probably win, but less so for smaller shops. Our local seaside town in the NW has most shops open on Sundays but many of them, and restaurants, now close on Mondays and some on Tuesdays too, as well as closing earlier on weekday afternoons. Being retired now, we avoid town centres at weekend, mainly as it is busy, but also, as we remember slow walking pensioners ambling about when families had a lot to do on a Saturday morning. But it is a pita to find a lot of the shops and cafes closed when we go into town on a Monday or Tuesday. Most supermarkets are open till 8.00 or 10.00 every night, so as others have said, giving the workers a later start and earlier finish is a good thing. I would leave the rules as they are. I remember 2 main reasons why the opening hours were shorter on Sundays. 1 was religious. The other was if the chains were allowed to open 24/7 then it would kill off smaller, local independant shops. If your shop is smaller than 1,000 sq ft the restricted hours do not apply.

I don’t think u can claim “cos feminism” when you imagine that in their spare time women want to go shopping for emergency handbags and shoes (whatever they are..who needs a handbag in an emergency on Sunday afternoon?!) or do the food shop..

I think it’s fine. The local M&S garage is 24/7 near me and the other shops open 11 till 4 on a Sunday..? I think that’s okay!

I totally disagree. I love staying in family in Germany where shops are closed Sunday. Used to be shut from Sat afternoons too. There should be some time each week where the focus isn’t on buying stuff. I’m not married, I’m not religious so for me it’s not a time to concentrate on family but for many people I know shopping the default activity to turn to when there’s any downtime.

One other point. We opened 7 days and all bank holidays. Depending on the weather they could be very busy days. We visited Spain during one if their bank holidays and a fiesta was in. All the shops were closed so the shop staff could enjoy the fiesta. Bars were open, but it was refreshing and the staff and shop owners could join in the fun.

Why dont you get the shopping done the night before, when the shops are open till 10.00pm? You could get out even earlier then.

@Badbadbunny that is so true.
Lockdown really didn't help the situation though.

@ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming it that's how in works in your country then that's fine.
In the UK it often doesn't.
Smaller independent specialist shops often don't even have a website so you can order online.

@Lincslady53 this is the issue - except for in big cities shops aren't open until 10 pm. They close at 5.30.

For my entire life the average office worker has got 2 days off a week, and on one of those days the shops have (mostly) been closed, and when I was young they were closed on both of those days, with one late night opening. Somehow we managed, and the High Street thrived. What is so "special" about people now that they can't manage one day without shops?

It is online shopping which is killing local shops, not trading hours.

It's not actually how it works in my country now, however it did when I was a child/teen/young adult. I occasionally shop on a Sunday - only nationwide chains are open on Sundays in my town - but not because I have to and I wouldn't care at all if no shops were open. I don't actually see hordes of Sunday shoppers anyway.

I am asking why it works in other countries in Europe but seemingly not in the UK? Why can't people in the UK shop on Saturdays? Are people in the UK incapable of organising their time around opening hours?

But @ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming online shopping isn't going away. Ever. If local shops won't change in order to compete, they'll be out of business.

Also there used to be more homemakers with time to shop on weekdays, and IME kids had fewer organized sports and activities that now suck up lots of time on Saturdays.

The world has changed.

And that's the truth of it. Most of the time people shop because they want to, not because they need to. It has turned into a hobby rather than a necessity and people can't cope because they can't indulge their wants.

Whether it's a want or a need is irrelevant. No one gets to decide that for me.

I never said online shopping was going away, and I mostly online shop myself. I merely said that it is what is killing the High Street, not the trading hours which many on this thread seem to be blaming it on. The reason I shop online is because I can't get what I want locally - it wouldn't matter if the shops were open 24/7 if they don't have the products I require.

As for sport, I live in a country which is far more sporty and outdoorsy than the UK, and I can tell you than not as many kids play sport as did when I was a kid, and adult sport has really dropped off - mainly because so many people now work at weekends and therefore can't commit to it.

@ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming people "managed" in the past with more local to home greengrocers/bakeries/butchers etc and buying clothes from catalogues - but those methods have mostly died out. So the industry needed to adapt. A lot of it has (you can still buy from the Freemans Catalogue - it is just online now). But the point is some physical shops can't necessarily adapt to the needs of their customers because of this strange law stopping them.

But you want to decide when others work to fulfil your wants/needs. Okay then.

@ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming my comment about "how it works in your country" was about if you order online it is likely to come from a large warehouse not the sales floor.

I think it's an outdated and pointless rule now. Small shops can.open, sales call centres can open, petrol stations and restaurants can open. Sunday is.no longer a scared day for most religion wise. Time to treat it as any other working day for all (I work in a 365, 24/7 industry)