Extended Sunday shopping could be permanent - with poll
BUSINESS experts in Derby say they expect the longer opening hours offered to shops during the Olympic Games to be extended beyond the summer to let traders compete with online retailers.
Supermarkets, along with many of the main stores in the city, are staying open until at least 8pm, after rules on Sunday opening were suspended during the Olympics and Paralympics.
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Extended shop opening times, which were brought in during the Olympics, could become permanent to allow retailers to compete with internet shopping, according to business experts in Derby.
The Government made the move to help boost trade during the Games, when it is estimated more than one million people will visit the UK.
The extension was agreed as an eight-week trial, though business leaders in Derby have said they expect to see the laws changed for good.
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John Forkin, director of Marketing Derby, said he thought it was too early to say whether the opening hours had given a boost to traders.
He said: "Like many other people, I suppose, I have been at home watching the Olympics rather than thinking about shopping.
"The challenge as I see it is that online retailers are effectively open 24-seven. Shops are open in the daytime, during the week and on Saturdays when many people are themselves at work.
"So where do people shop when they get home? The internet.
"I think there is a good chance these measures could be made permanent because it is a way for shops to rival online shopping."
When the measures were introduced, Liberal Democrat business minister Norman Lamb said: "I want to make it clear that this is a temporary measure and not a test case for a permanent relaxation of the rules in the future."
But in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said he was "willing to look and see what the difference in trading patterns were".
"I'm always keen that we respect people's religious beliefs. But I think we should kind of look long and hard at the results," he said.
Westfield shopping centre, in Derby, is opening 9am to 6pm on Sundays throughout the period, though a spokesman for the centre said it was too early to say what impact the extension had had on trade.
Shoppers were divided on whether longer hours was a good move.
Glenda Bennett, 55, lives in Derby city centre. She works in a store within Westfield and is not in favour of shops staying open later. "As a worker I don't think it would be good because you already have to juggle family life."
Wendy Wang, 36, of Derby disagreed. She said: "I think it is good. I work as a sales manager and so, for me and my family, it helps being able to do the shopping on Sunday afternoons.
George Cowcher, chief executive of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce, said: "This eight-week period will also serve as a useful trial to provide evidence as to whether the relaxation of Sunday trading rules on a permanent basis would provide a boost to the economy in the long term."
POLL: What do you think? Have your say on our poll, above right.
Comments
by RyanSeaton
Thursday, August 16 2012, 1:38AM
“If Sundays cannot be made optional then perhaps they should have a mandatory noon lunch hour given its popularity and workers can have synchronized time off to have the same eating /shopping time with their friends/family. ..
...But wait, what if Restaraunts ...nah what if simply all retailers and manufactures and service sectors simply agreed that they all needed the noon lunch hour to be mandatory ? Screwdriver the shift system and this concept of one hand wash the other ?
Long live the group Optional Sundays , not just on facebook. http://tinyurl.com/d9z4wvu”
by eric9629
Tuesday, August 14 2012, 5:46PM
“there's never enough shopping for some.”
by vintage1959
Tuesday, August 14 2012, 5:28PM
“Guess what...people who work in shops have lives too!!! Actually they don't, cus idiots haven't got enough hours to shop from Monday to Saturday, so lets extend it to Sunday as well, and NO, that's not enough either!!! Much to short the hours, well why don't we just open 24 hours a day, 365/366 days a year, will that be enough for you...probably not!”
by stephen192
Tuesday, August 14 2012, 5:23PM
“I worked Sundays knowing I earned double time on Sundays but the Supermarket moved location and forced and issued a new contract that reduced my wages to minimum wage on Sundays and Bank Hoildays.
Since the Supermarket do not pay extra for Bank hoildays, Sundays, and night shift and Christmas Boxing Day and New Years day I gave up working in Retail. On Sundays public transport often do not run and workers need a taxi that could cost around £20.00.
If the Government changed the law for Sundays they need to compensate workers for being away from their family, the extra cost of travelling like a taxi if public transport was not available.
People that work Sundays must protest for time and quarter or double time to be paid for Sunday and Bank Hoilday including working over the Christmas and new year period and we do not want Sundays and Bank Hoilday a normal day in the week.”
by Derby_Stu
Tuesday, August 14 2012, 1:34PM
“I normally only go to town on a Sun as its always quiet. Seems completely pointless extending the opening hours.
Agreed this will put more pressure on businesses, increase their overheads and decrease their profits. Once the novelty of shopping at 9am on has worn off it will go back to normal.
The internet is taking over as they have no shop premises to pay for, their overheads are much smaller and the high street has been in steady decline for years. Opening a few extra hours won't chance that!”
by Hoosen_Fenger
Tuesday, August 14 2012, 12:18PM
“Shopping habits have changed. We can buy anything 24/7 from the comfort of our homes or anywhere else with an intent connection.
That people might want to go out at 6pm on a Sunday to a Westfield for a couple of hours is pretty scary to me, haven't they got anything better to do? If people cannot fulfil their retail fix with all the avenues open to them now, I cannot imagine opening the shops this late on a Sunday will have any impact in the long run.”
by janine2011
Tuesday, August 14 2012, 11:34AM
“Opening longer will not bring in any extra trade as people still only have the same amount of money to spend. Keeping shops open longer means paying staff more money therefore more expense to the store. Who will pay for that? Yep the customer, in higher costs for goods, because let's face it the shops are not going to let the extra costs eat into their profits. Keep to the hours already in force.”
by jos1966
Tuesday, August 14 2012, 10:24AM
“I did wonder if this would happen, an absolute terrible idea with little thought to the people that have to work in the retail sector. With people having to take on small contracts in retail just to get work, they have to accept what is thrown at them just to be 'grateful they have employment'.
I've already seen one comment elsewhere that it will bring more jobs, in reality, employers will just push the employees that little bit further without any choice.
I'm a firm believer that we should have fought harder for the 'Keep Sunday Special' campaign when we had the chance, not from a religious point of view but from a family point of view.
Yes, i may have my rose tinted spectacles on but the days when everything was closed on a Sunday and families spent quality time together purely because that was all there was to do were the best days of my life.
Of course there are people that are happy and willing to work weekends as it fits in with childcare etc but the chances of employers taking staff on just for the weekend and longer Sunday trading hours is minimal, it will be left to us that rarely get a full weekend off and we will have to 'like it or lump it'”