Supermarket opening times (Light Hearted)

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 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!!!

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

It isn't hard to make a list and think ahead. I have always done my last pre-Christmas shop 2 or 3 days before Christmas and then not gone near the shops again for anything until after the New Year, not even the Christmas sales. I do not use fresh milk, an intolerance problem, and I can see for all those who do that this will need to be bought, but otherwise, if people didn't go to the shops in the days between Christmas and New Year, they wouldn't open, or for fewer hours.

Shops open because the days immediately after Christmas are top trading days. We do not go on spending sprees between Christmas and New Year because we are forced to because the shops are open.

{Standard exclusion statement: I do understand that this could pose problems for those in poverty}

Sorry - not sure where "shut all day Wednesdays" came from.

When I first came to Germany shops closed at 6.30 pm. That was freedom for me, having come from the UK where shops shut at 5.30 pm with half day closing on Wednesdays, and shut all day Wednesdays, and of course on Sundays and Band Holidays.

However the rest of the opening times, which are still strictly regulated here in Germany were as follows: open from quite early (bakers at 6 am, other food shops maybe 8 am) except for posh clothes shops which may not open till 10 am.

Saturdays: closing at 2.30, except once a month, and in Advent. If a Bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday there is no day off on the Monday, but there are plenty of other days when everything closes (Epiphany, Easter Monday, Corpus Christi, Ascension Day, National holiday (which was on 17 June in those days.) and up to 7 others depending on where you lived.)

Germany still has one of the the shortest and strictest opening hours regulations, but don't go to the Netherlands on Lappendaag. Even the restaurants are shut. This may only apply to Hoorn where we were staying, but other towns may well have similar days.

I grew up in a London suburb. There was a Sainsburys that didn’t open on Mondays (or Sundays obviously). John Lewis on Oxford Street closed at lunchtime on Saturday and opened again on Tuesday - their business model prioritised staff well-being. We also had local early closing on Thursdays. But everyone wasn’t so obsessed with shopping in those days.

When I was working as a nurse in the 60s it was a nightmare trying to fit in Christmas shopping and buying food. If my day off was a Wednesday then I only had until lunchtime to shop.
In 1971 I had a baby seven days before Christmas and DH had to do the shopping because the family were coming to visit, no car in those days, twenty minute bus trip to the nearest shop.

Aldi and assume Lidl too always close Christmas, boxing and New Year’s Day they also pay over £12 an hour to their staff.
I wrote to Sainsbury CEO a couple of years ago about them doing the same, especially given staff had worked through COVID. I didn’t even get an acknowledgement.
We managed years ago with Sunday and half day closing. There was no 12 or 24 hour opening and not many had fridges or freezers either.
In Europe shops still close Sundays and all bank holidays. It’s a pity we always follow the 24/7 American way of life. It’s really not necessary and staff need family time over bank hols. We won’t starve for a couple of days if shops closed.

I'd be sent to collect the ice cream (wrapped in newspaper)
I'd forgotten about those blocks of icecream in cardboard packets which the grocer would wrap in newspaper. 🙂

Surely people can organise themselves for just two days without the need to go to the food shops.

We once had to take DD to her part-time job at a big shopping centre on Boxing Day as there were no buses.
The roads were gridlocked for miles around and we got her there about 2 hours late. The manager had only just got in herself to open up.

I remember Christmas Eve Dad going into the local auction rooms to buy a turkey which mum would then have to prepare ready for the next day.

Oh yes, early closing day - either Wednesday or Thursday around here. We bought extra butter before Christmas (not the usual daily two ounces) and it was put in a jar outside the back door.

I'd be sent to collect the ice cream (wrapped in newspaper) just before the meal. All quite normal back then. Now, it's only Easter Sunday when supermarkets have to close and the convenience or corner shops always seem to be open!

My parents had a corner shop in the early 60's, selling sweets, ice cream, some frozen veg, cigarettes and newspapers. Customers, without fridges, would ask if they could collect their ice cream, or frozen peas, on Christmas day.
The shop wasn't open, but there was frequent knocking on the door until about 3pm, when mum, dad, and my brother had their own dinner. Often joined by an aunt and uncle.

I remember in the early 60s busses would run on Christmas Day.

Oh dear taurusmmukpp I can imagine that wasn’t much fun!

I completely agree with you Fleurpepper, a strange kind of madness seems to take over obviously whipped up by TV advertising.

Grandmadinosaur I remember working as a bus conductor on New Year’s Day in the early sixties after consuming too much alcohol after midnight. I never repeated that experience, once bitten, twice shy!

I know you said 'light hearted' - but honestly, I think it is ridiculous and sad too. Why can't shops close at 4pm on Christmas Eve and not re-open until the 27th, and let families enjoy the time together. Some professions have to work, nurses, ambulance, police, fire- but we can cope with shops closed for 2 days and a few hours!