AIBU to think supermarkets should close earlier on bank holidays?

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Glad I’m not working in food retail anymore.
Have/had friends and family who work/worked for supermarkets across England and Wales - to have the same problem.

Every bank holiday without fail, the supermarkets stayed open til 9pm or 10pm and it always goes quiet from 3-4pm The same goes from opening the store to 11am. It’s boring.

Then come the day after bank holidays, it’s busy as “I didn’t know you were open yesterday”. Look at the opening hours!

Why can’t supermarkets look at their sales figures for each hour and close the stores at 5pm?

Even now I was in a supermarket this morning and overheard two shop assistants moaning about there is no need to stay open on Monday.

I also think garden centres should be allowed to open on Easter Sunday. Not a gardener myself but surely long weekends are when people want to do things in their gardens!

I think it’s a shame the shops open on all these holidays. Boxing Day I absolutely cannot get my head round, give the staff a break with their families. But then I’m extra extra old and remember shops closing Sundays and Wednesday afternoons. Post offices only until noon. And a first and second class post drop!
I know the argument is well what about everyone else, hospitals, emergency services, hospitality etc. I know, I understand, it’s a hard one. I guess hospitals, emergency services etc just can’t close whereas the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury’s can, they just don’t want to miss out on the money. I’d like to think anyone else working in hospitality etc that shifts are covered fairly.

OP doesn’t care about the people running MN who are having to work today. Shame on her for posting on a bank holiday.

Not so long ago, almost every shop in England used to be closed all day on every Bank Holiday and every Sunday. Many were also closed on Wednesday or Thursday afternoons and daily between 1.00 and 2.00 p.m. Almost all shops, including most supermarkets, didn't open until 9.00 a.m. and closed at 5.30 p.m.

I can remember in the 1970s when some of the larger supermarkets started having a late night opening, when they stayed open until 8.00 p.m. on Fridays. Such initiatives were very popular and gradually the hours that food shops were open began to increase, until many supermarkets were open till 8.00 p.m. daily.

When Boxing Day was made a bank holiday, it meant we sometimes had several days with no shops open - if Christmas Day fell on a Saturday, for example, all the shops would be closed for four consecutive days, would open again for two days and then close again for three more consecutive days! I can't imagine people putting up with that nowadays!

It's so interesting to see how things have changed in my lifetime.

Hospital cleaners, porters and those working in transport too.

I think that shops in general should close on a Sunday and on bank holidays. Retail staff shouldn't have to work good Friday or the whole weekend tbh

Working on boxing day is insane

If i became PM I would say

• All supermarkets should go 24 hours if they did before the pandemic
• NO supermarkets open on boxing day.
• No non food retail shops open at all from good Friday to easter monday

All shops should have a dedicated telephone line. I should be able to call my local sainsburys to enquire about helium balloons, if I so choose, without having to speak to a call centre!!!!! 😤😤😤😤

• extra pay for working on a Sunday! Its the day of rest, fgs.

Rant over

This exactly 👍
I can remember when “late night shopping” came into effect on a Thursday night and omg the excitement of being to pop out later or not to have your shopping done by 5pm

that said we’re now a nation that lives 24/7. Wouldn’t mind going back to the old days myself, but that’s normal for us, we remember it so well.As you say a lot of people couldn’t do it these days

These people are never calling for National Trust reception staff, Costa baristas or garden centre café hospitality workers to get a day off, are they?

Everyone working normally here. I think Sunday is the only day when a lot of things are shut.

I used to work in retail- I don't visit shops on Sundays or bank holidays. I know its really boring without customers but I'd rather these shops close due to luck of customers.

This. ☝️

Whataboutism

What about the restaurants, what about the NHS, what about the truck drivers... theres always a what about

OP asked about the supermarkets.

In reality the supermarkets could shut for the bank holiday and people COULD and would manage... but the big conglomerates are too greedy to do so.

Absolutely not.
Retail is a service industry and that service is needed I am of the opinion early finish on Sunday is rediculous too.
I honestly believe it would help (probably mostly mothers) if they could do longer shifts on a Sunday saving the need to pay for childcare during the week.
Yes I have worked in retail.

People want to shop on bank holidays. The demand is there.

It’s the age old you can’t please everyone

personally I love a bank holiday enhanced pay easy money as tail end of shift very quiet
you get bank holiday enhanced pay hours credited do you can take a day if when best suits you

Err no

YABU

Some of us that work retail or have actually like working such days and hours.

I happily switch with those who don’t want to work bank holidays and have gone in to help other locations. Busy or not busy, doesn’t matter to me; it’s additional money either way.

Staff don’t get a free day off though, they usually have to use one of their annual leave days even if the store is shut. At least, that was the case when I worked in retail and Christmas fell on one of my working days.

Those places tend to be busy though in an evening

They are busy on bank holidays too.

I work in a 24/7 industry, we are open every day of the year. It's not just retail that have to work on "special" days, I work pretty much every bank holiday every year, unless I book it off as leave - and tbh I'd rather leave that to the people with young kids on school holidays. I don't see the issue at all - if you work in retail, you know you're expected to work these hours. If you don't like it, work somewhere else?

That was the same with my job on Xmas Day, booked it off or worked another day.

Until the last 2 years of working for the supermarket, we got paid for Easter Sunday if scheduled and didn't need to book it off. Now got to book it off or again, work another day in the week.

That’s what I mean, they are busy during the evening on a bank holiday, so why would OP think the same about them closing early?

Let be honest though most retail staff don’t work 40hours a week do they? They usually work 16-20 hours a week so they get days off…just not the bank holiday! And yes I worked in retail. But LOADS of industries work on bank hols…life goes on!

Staff don’t go home at 4 o’clock when the store closes on a Sunday, it’s a normal day for us and we still have deliveries to work the same as any other day. It actually makes it easier for us because we can have more stock out and not have to worry about customers, I can guarantee less people would want to work a Sunday if the store was open for longer.