Supermarket opening times (Light Hearted)

Ours shut on Good Friday, Christmas Day and there are limited hours on Anzac Day. Some also shut on Melbourne Cup Day. Boxing Day is the first day of the sales, people go nuts trying to get a bargain.

We’ve got used to not planning ahead as there’s always a shop open. Well, not me as I only shop once every ten days or so and if I’ve failed and we’re missing something, we do without. I live a couple of miles out of our village which encourages planning ahead but I remain intrigued by why people want to be in the local co op every day!
H
That said, I dream of having a continental style market where I could shop daily!

Yep! And that's why Boxing Day and New Year sales no longer bring the business that retailers dream of. Sales are on all year.

Yes, I'm sure that shops were shut for much longer years ago, definitely Boxing Day though I'm not sure if they were shut on New Year's day.
It really is mad that we all buy so much food for such a short break, I'm as guilty as anyone else and I can't get everything in the fridge at the moment. Next year I'm going to make more of an effort to do less food shopping.

We have a small local shop on our development, run by a Muslim family. They open at 8am and are open until late, and I think that they have been open throughout Christmas. They offer a wonderful service although obviously a more limited range.

I remember the anxiety mum had when shops closed for several days. She was so worried she'd forgotten something.

Grammaretto Working in Scotland I. the 60s I didn't get Christmas off, but 3 days instead at New Year!

Our local Coop was open till 8pm this Boxing Day which surprised me but there were customers in when I passed.

I popped out last Saturday (eve) for some paracetamol and milk (!) And was gobsmacked at the hugely piled trollies in Tesco! Ridiculously over estimates I'm sure of what is needed! Why do they do this? It's usually pretty cold at Christmas so if pressed at home in 50/60s pre fridge etc we kept milk cream etc in the lean-to at back door And turkey left in (unheated cold) kitchen under a clean teatowel!! Anything forgotten was done without! And wowsers! Nobody died!!!

I also think that we should return to read sales times as The price drops often reveal just how overpriced stuff is anyway! Sales used tone at end of seasons and not before, we need to ditch the stupid American black Friday rubbish too, we don't even understand what it means!! It was a way of forcing massive sales to get companies' balance sheets out of the red in to black! Not very British at all. I used to love the stampede in the new year down to M&S at lunchtime in January once back at work! We'd all be excited to see what everyone bagged! It's all gone mediocre Luke warm now, fake goods at faked discounts. I enjoyed waiting for something special to be reduced It felt like a win!!

I remember shops shut every Sunday and when I lived in Germany the shops weren’t open on bank holidays full stop my oldest has just got back from holiday just needed milk etc he was surprised so many open today when no need he was going to corner shop until neighbours told him that supermarket etc all open and he says he was shocked how many ppl were food shopping today as he said to lass on till before him and wife went on holiday they filled everything up he just needed milk and she said ppl were waiting for it to open. He said bet big bosses not working lol

I don't see why some supermakets are open 24/7. Who needs to shop at 3 am? If they were open from 7 am to 10 pm that surely would cover every single shift pattern and save a great deal on staffing, lighting etc. I was pleased to see that our local giant supermarket has now cut its hours to something a lot more sensible. Our local university was planning to open the library for twenty four hours - the outcry was such that they dropped the idea quickly. There is surely such a tiny demand for services like shops and libraries in the small hours - how can opening be justified?

I did my last supermarket shop on the Monday before Christmas and took a half hour to go to the veg shop on the Friday. I've no plans to food shop for at least another week.

I also wonder how people would cope nowadays. When I was growing up, shops were closed Sundays, half day one day a week, lunchtimes and Bank holidays, Christmas for at least two days and sometimes longer depending on the days it fell and New Year likewise, living now in Scotland the 2nd of January is always a holiday. I appreciate that some people due to low income can only shop day to day, but that's what we used to have to do anyway not many had a fridge and even fewer had a freezer.

Yes, in my childhood shops were closed on Sundays and on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, some on 2nd January as well, but Boxing Day was not a public holiday in Scotland at that time, nor was Good Friday.

In Denmark until the late 1960s shops closed at 12 noon on Saturdays, were closed on Christmas Day and the 26th December, and on New Year's Day. On Christmas Eve, they closed at 2 p.m. instead of the normal closing time of 5.30 p.m and on New Year's Eve at 4 p.m. Good Friday everything was closed, as on Easter Sunday and Monday.
Restaurants could serve food on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but not play dance music - night clubs, theatres and the circus were closed.

All that has changed now, and the young generation of my family cannot believe it possible to live without shops being open on Sundays!

People pile up a trolley or two as if expecting some kind of medieval siege lasting 6 months or more. AND I have witnessed an xmas lunch hostess reduced to sobs and sniffles because "I forgot to get a jar of cranberry sauce - noooooooo cranberry sauce!"

Give me strength........

My Dad was a postman and had to make deliveries on Christmas day. It was the best day for "tips" and offers of drinks.

Grandson works in Aldi. He told me that anything with a short shelf life would be half price or less from 23 rd Dec. My daughter shopped even more cheaply just before shops shut on Christmas Eve.
Aldi car park was full early on this morning.
I will go out tomorrow (Wednesday) for milk and veg.
I applaud those shops which close for at least two days. Staff deserve a break.

I'm old enough to remember when shops shut at 5.30 and 6pm on a Friday. Half day closing and the co-op always shut between 1 & 2 pm for lunch
Never open on a Sunday. Shops that did open of a sunday (for newspapers) could only sell certain items. Years later when Sunday opening was allowed, the restricted items continued. I can't remember which but it was either loose tea or teabags - but one or the other could not be sold on a Sunday. Solihull Council fined a major supermarket for selling one of them on a Sunday . The same council by the way that fined for some shop for selling fruit when the label indicated pounds and kilos and not just kilos!

Rosina

I don't see why some supermakets are open 24/7. Who needs to shop at 3 am? If they were open from 7 am to 10 pm that surely would cover every single shift pattern and save a great deal on staffing, lighting etc. I was pleased to see that our local giant supermarket has now cut its hours to something a lot more sensible. Our local university was planning to open the library for twenty four hours - the outcry was such that they dropped the idea quickly. There is surely such a tiny demand for services like shops and libraries in the small hours - how can opening be justified?

I wonder, was the library going to be open as a ‘warm space?’

No, Knittynatter; this was some years ago, and the library was, and is, for students only. My local library where I now live is a 'warm space' and has tea and coffee, and mince pies - very welcoming!

I'm sure I remember food stores closing at 1 pm on Saturday and nothing opened on Sunday. It was a very curtailed bus service on Sundays too. Nothing was open on Christmas day and no trains and limited buses. I was a Nurse in 1957 and it was hopeless trying to get to and from work even on public holidays as well as Christmas and New year's day. All shops closed at 5 pm Saturday and didn't open till Monday morning.

I remember shops closing one afternoon and Sundays. Otherwise opening 8 am til 5.30 or 6 pm.
We had no refrigeration. Milk was kept cool by putting it in a bowl of water and covering with a muslin cloth and meat in a ‘’safe’ hung outside in a cool place. We had a larder with a marble shelf. We used to go shopping almost daily.
Someone mentioned postman. When I was a child a stamp for a letter was 1d. One penny. And if you posted something local in the morning it would arrive in the afternoon.. very few phones those days. Had to find a phone box.

Here in Kansas, in those days, shops closed at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. and were open late one evening, Thursday. You could catch the bus and go downtown and shop late (probably 9:00pm) and catch a bus home. You could go to the grocery store after work and shop till 8:30 at night. Other than that, shops were closed Saturdays at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. and never open on Sundays or any holidays. You are absolutely right about American consumerism. We focus so much on our individualism that we lose something. I think the stores should be closed more. I was appalled to find out a friend always took her daughter's out shopping Thanksgiving afternoon. I didn't even realize that many places were open. The day after Thanksgiving is a great shopping day, and I used to be all about it, but Thanksgiving? That's for for food and family and watching football.

cc

Yes, I'm sure that shops were shut for much longer years ago, definitely Boxing Day though I'm not sure if they were shut on New Year's day.
It really is mad that we all buy so much food for such a short break, I'm as guilty as anyone else and I can't get everything in the fridge at the moment. Next year I'm going to make more of an effort to do less food shopping.

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1 January definitely did not used to be a Bank Holiday. I just looked it up. It was declared a holiday in 1974.