to think supermarkets should open longer on Sundays?

[ThisPlumCrab]

By late Sunday morning my local supermarket is like a rugby scrum with trolleys. The car park is jammed, people are queueing before they even get inside, and once you are in the aisles it feels like an obstacle course just to reach the milk. It is easily the busiest day of the week here, yet we still have the six hour Sunday trading limit.

Because of Sunday trading laws, the big shops in England and Wales can only open for six hours. In practice that means everyone piles in at the same time. Late morning is rammed, early afternoon is even worse, and by the afternoon the place looks like a plague of locusts has been through, with only artichokes and beetroot left.

In Scotland there are no Sunday trading laws for large shops, so they can open as long as they like, and life seems to carry on perfectly fine.

If supermarkets here could open longer, like on a normal day, people could spread out their shopping and the whole thing would be calmer. Families who spend Saturday at kids sports or activities, and workers who do shifts at the weekend, would have more choice than the current six hour window. Smaller express or local stores are open all day anyway, but they are pricier and do not stock everything, so you end up doing several little shops.

I know the main argument for the current rules is that Sundays should be for people to spend time with their families. But not everyone lives in a family setup, and many people, especially students, part timers, and those looking for extra income, actually prefer to work on Sundays. For some, it is the best day to pick up extra hours without clashing with other commitments.

I just do not see how the current system helps when Sundays are already the busiest.

I think Sunday hours are ridiculous in this day and age.

Whilst i think Sunday opening should be kept as is (or reduced), if i ruled the world, grocery shopping as a family event would be outlawed. If there are two parents there, then the kids do NOT need to be in the store, one parent can stay at home/ in the car with the kids. This drives me mad, even more so, when the parents have no control over their kids.

Our supermarkets open at 9.30 for “browsing”. You can be at the till at 10 when the checkout opens. The early bird catches the worm!

But modern supermarkets aren't "just" grocery shopping. The big supermarkets sell virtually everything, i.e. clothes, games, stationery, electronics, etc., so it can be relevant for the whole family to go, i.e. to buy school uniform, or party outfit, or a new TV, etc.

In some places, like small towns, the big supermarkets will be the only places in town to buy such things.

Direct not rude.
So about one fifth of a day then.

You’re very funny.

Problem is, the staff don't get to choose whether they work Sundays or not. Everyone is forced to work them in turn, whether they want to or not.

But they know that when they take the job!! I was cabin crew for over two decades l, I can’t tell you how many times I missed Xmas, or a wedding or party, let alone a whole weekend- but I knew that when I took the job…

What's stopping you doing your shopping a different day/time of the week or ordering an online shop?

There's enough options for people to be able to buy food and other essentials without all big supermarkets having to be open longer than 6 hours on a Sunday.

Saturdays are also ridiculously busy so not sure why you think opening longer on a Sunday would make any difference.

Yes

But if you suffered that should make you more inclined to see less other people with the same level of disruption to their lives and families not more.

It's a basic attitude that enables us to work towards a better society not a worse one.

Posted twice by mistake

I love the fact I have a shorter working day on a Sunday , the same people who come running in are the same ones who moan when we shut on Boxing Day, I also agree with the poster that whole bloody families don’t need to come shopping together. Blocking aisles and tills and in general being obnoxious

to the ones who want to open longer, who do you think will staff this?? Supermarket workers are completely spread as thin as possible at the moment, we can’t get staff and all the students will be leaving in a few weeks

it’s all part of the population who’s all me me me, they want everything now, no matter the cost

I think supermarkets have filled the gap with smaller stores like Tesco Metro and Little Waitrose that are open 7 days a week. I don’t shop in them as I don’t like paying the higher prices.

I think the big superstores need to go back to being open 24hrs during the week. Pre-Covid ours was but never went back. It’s not fair for working people to all rush to the shops on a Sat or Sun when they’re already limited with their days off.

Adjusting Sunday trading hours would help too.

I work in retail and love working a Sunday purely because we can get so much done before and after we close. We are open 6am-midnight Monday to Saturday so that’s plenty of time for most people to do a shop.

We can opt out of Sunday working if we want to but the majority of people don’t because it’s easier for us. I remember when we used to get double time and everyone wanted to work it but those days are long gone.

Also ordering online doesn’t kill supermarkets, a whole new department exists because of this and in my store dot.com are the biggest department if you include the drivers. You can also do click and collect to save time in store, the argument about substitutions always makes me laugh because it’s either there or it’s not, makes no difference if you go into store in person.

Sundays are when we have the freedom to move things around and if you extended the hours then you’d all soon be on here moaning when you couldn’t find your item because it’s been put in a cage to be moved somewhere else.

You can opt out of Sunday working if you don’t want to do it.

Problem with click & collect is there are barely any time slots left unless you order a week in advance and I think that’s pretty poor for this day and age.
At least this is the case where I live anyway.
There’s usually one one supermarket worker manning it as well…

I think OP’s point is that some people don’t have much choice then to shop on Sunday due to work on a weekdays and kid’s clubs on Saturday. It’s not me by the way but I can imagine that it’s the case for some people.

I don’t think they necessarily need to be open longer, but I wish they’d either open 8 to 2 or 12 to 6. I generally have to do a top-up shop on a Sunday and it means I can’t really do much else as it’s either too late to go out afterwards or have to cut short what I’m doing in the morning.

No it actually makes me adaptable- I still work weekends. We have our family meal another evening. When I flew we had our Christmas dinner on a different day if I was away. Things don’t need to be done on set days.

I don't think OP has a valid point though. Saturdays are just as busy and kids clubs rarely take up the entire day.

Most big supermarkets are open 6am- 11pm/midnight Mon-Sat.

I do appreciate people have differenct circumstances but there are plenty of options for people to do a food shop at different times.

Unfortunately if the only time you can/want do it is at the weekend then you have to accept it will be busy.

Whilst I understand that it's not fair for people to work 24/7 there are many people happy to work Sundays, maybe mandate a higher minimum wage for the weekend and a maximum number of hours and then supermarkets, and other businesses, will open if it makes sense to them.

you can get milk in a smaller shop that isn't restricted opening hours..it doesn't have to be a supermarkert.