If shops want you to ‘shop local’…

[Alwayslostthedummy]

Why do they have such prohibitive opening hours?

We need to buy a new fridge/freezer, would prefer to shop local as I hate giving money to Currys etc because of bad experiences. Looking at the shops selling appliances within a 20 mile radius, all are closed on Sundays and a fair few closed Saturdays too!

Its the same in my local high street, there are a couple of nice fancy gifty type shops where I would buy presents/homewards/toys. One is closed all weekend and the other opens for 4 hours on Saturday.

AIBU to think businesses are missing a trick here? I don’t have any data on this but presume in a lot of cases those with spending power work during the week. Is it any wonder retail parks and online shopping is taking over?

It's a massive shame. My favourite independent bookshop opens 10-4 weekdays and only 9-12 Saturdays!

I agree. We went to a nearby town today that is very middle class with a busy high street. All the coffee shops were open but the gift/clothes/antique shops were closed.

And the same with so many other services that are only available during work hours.

A lot of shops like that (gifts etc) in our town can't afford staff, so basically the owner and sometimes their spouse work during the week and then don't want to work the weekends. It's short sighted. Min wage for local teenagers would probably pay for itself on Saturdays.

It's the clash of caring responsibilities and keeping prices (therefore profits) low. Minimum wage, while needed, has meant the older woman who'd sit and be happy to read/knit etc for a set day price, can't happen any longer. Before that's pounced on, a few women in my family were employed in those roles.

It’s been like this for 20 years. I remember in the early 2000s the local butcher complaining and being stunned by my response that (unless I was on holiday) I (professional and therefore able to afford such luxury) was at work all the hours his shop was open (9-4, weekdays).

Many of these will be owned and run by just one person.

Would you want to work 9-8 7 days a week?

It's their choice what hours they work. Presumably they've picked the hours that balance takings with having a life.

Lots of the smaller shops near me don't open until 10. There's usually a rush of school drop off parents at 9 looking to do a bit of shopping that don't want to hang around for an hour or come back out so they miss out on these people.

Why would opening at better hours mean they are open more hours. Work sat/sun and take tue/wed off.
Other industries do this

This is true in theory. However there are have been quite a few independent shops/cafes etc. locally to me that have gone out of business and the owners have been publicly very sad about it, posting on social media about how sad it is that they have had to close.. but the problem was that they were rarely open at sensible times to start with! and when they were open, the owners sat around with their friends and family chatting and ignoring the rare customers they did have..

It’s predictable watching places open and close now. The latest is a “wine bar” that is hardly ever open.

They are businesses that are not being run like businesses and yet the owners seem surprised and confused when they fail. I have actually wondered about money laundering a few times when pondering over some shops, as that would make more sense than the business strategies they seem to have 😂

Yes but then people would complain the shop wasn’t open on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But maybe they don’t need to?
My parents have run a few stores for years. One is run now by my dad, one my brother, and they have one other staff member who floats between the stores.

Years ago when I was a child my dad would open 8-6pm, Mon-Sat. Even opening Sundays in peak summer months.
But you know, people just spread out the times to shop, so actually you don’t earn more. Now, 20 years on, they are open 8-4pm, 5 days a week. Closed Wed and Sunday. They still earn the same as opening longer hours (obviously adjusted for years later prices). And now have better work life balance. My Brother can pick his children up from childcare for example at 4.15pm.

Back in the Dark Ages, shops were closed on Sundays and most would have half-day closing one one day a week, often Wednesday or Thursday (whichever day wasn't market day), and all the local shops in the town would be closed that afternoon. So shop staff worked 5 and a half days a week every week.

Their choice I suppose.

We have a fabulous butcher near us. Closed Weds & Sat afternoons, and Sundays. Same for the chemist next door.

It just means I shop there first on Saturdays, then do the general shop later.

@invisiblecat back in those days women were usually at home during the day so having shops open those hours worked fine. I wouldn’t be able to use a shop that was only open those hours and nether would most people I know other than retired people.

I’m the same OP. I would love to be able to shop at independent shops. There is an independent carpet shop in the next town over but they aren’t open weekends and you have to arrange your own fitter. I can pop down to carpet right at 8pm on a Thursday and they will arrange the fitters for me, and they offer deals and finance.

There is a unit in the town I live in which has had a conveyor belt of different businesses occupying the space. People seem to use it to live out their fantasy of owning x business without really doing any market research. In the last 3 years it has been a haberdashery, a green grocer, a baby friendly cafe, and now an art supplies shop. All open exclusively during work hours.

I think the thing is people live their lives differently now to how they did even 30 years ago - no one wants to see the death of the high street but we have to stop pretending there is enough demand for these sorts of shops in regular towns. Coffee shops, nail salons, hair dressers and bars all do well where I live and stick around. Much better to focus on what consumers actually seem to want. The success of the high street relies on it growing and changing with the times, not resolutely opening small independent shops which are not convenient for people to use, and then complaining all over Facebook when they close.

We had a place similar to this in our local shopping area. Constantly posted social media posts about using independents and getting angry when chain coffee shops opened.

They then left a really furious rant on social media blaming the entire community for their failing business and started sharing photos of people that were sat outside the chain coffee shops, saying things like because of these people our business failed etc.

They were also a cafe and their opening hours were 1030am to 2pm Mon to Friday and Saturday 9am till midday.

They literally opened and closed during the school run hours of which there are 4 primary schools within walking distance and all the parents constantly use the coffee shops either after the am school run or after the pm school run with their children.

Saturdays They served breakfast 9 till 10 and lunch 11 till midday and in the week, they stopped serving food at 1130am.

Outside of the food hours, you could only get drinks.

But apparently it wad the chains and unloyal customers that broke them, not their business model!

I don't consider Sunday closure to be prohibitive. Most people have at least one of the other six days not at work.

Some of the examples @SaltandPepper22 refers to as part of the conveyor belt or similar I'd suspect are either optimists or a front for money laundering.

I agree with the comments about opening at 10 not 9 missing out an opportunity more than likely.

I have to sadly agree. We have a gift shop/jewellers in my little town that open 16 hours a WEEK. Over 3 days. Saturday 10 til 4, (6 hours,) and Wednesday and Friday (10 til 3.) I am amazed they keep going tbh.

@LlynTegid I think they are optimists/delusional! There is however a Chinese take away in town which is definitely a money laundering front - cash only, no website order over the phone only, not a Chinese person in sight

I've adapted my shopping to suit when my local independents are open.

It's doable.

I loathe Tesco and Amazon and the giant corps, I'm lucky that there are lots of small businesses in my neighbourhood in Lambeth and I'll be damned if I don't use them as much as I can. Lots of the shops near me are closed on Mondays, seems to be a Portuguese thing and the fruit and veg markets is only open 4 days of the week.

I suppose it's a step back in time where we have to be conscious of opening hours instead of fat greedy corporations paying dreadful wages having a monopoly on everything and us as consumers being mindful of that.

Perhaps if everyone stops moaning about Labour and gets behind the potential new 4 day working week it might help.

But back in those days everything was shut on a Sunday, and it was far more likely that there was one person not working. No one went into the town centre on a Sunday as nothing was open.

I feel this SO MUCH.

I've rarely shopped at my local shops because they're never open. However, I've recently swapped to a remote, flexible job and really wanted to make the effort to shop more locally. So far I've found:

My local coffee shop (open M-F, 9-2?!) charges £4 to pour bottled peach ice tea from a Lipton bottle into a tiny cup of ice. It takes forever to be served because they're chatting to the 2 locals who are always sat in there, moaning about how little custom they have.

My local florist has lots of nice gifts. They are expensive AF - £25 for a notebook? Not a beautifully bound, exquisite notebook I could buy from a independent seller on Etsy - you can buy the same notebook, from the same manufacturer, on Amazon for £8. Again, that's if the place is even open, or if anyone is available to serve (last time I was in there, the only member of staff was on the phone to her sister for 10 mins before I gave up and left).

Our grocery shop has decent hours, but never has reliable stock, and the prices are inflated. What is the point of making a meal plan, then a grocery list, trying to shop locally, then having to go to Tesco anyway because somehow the local shop doesn't have ANY kind of tomatoes, or pasta?!

Quite a few independent shops near me have altered their opening hours, and are open 11-19 or 12-20 for example, to allow people to pop by after work.

Yes, I agree with this.