Longer opening hours on Sunday

Somehow, I can't see the French buying into that any time soon, vegas, if only because most businesses still consider the 2hr. lunch-break sacrosanct.

Let's hope ffinnochio the French manage to resist this 24/7 opening drive. I predict that within 5 or 6 years, shops here won't even close on Christmas day.

It's no longer the case in France, vegasmags It certainly was when I first came here 12 years ago. Now most supermarkets have Sunday morning openings, as well as all day Saturday. Some public service offices are still closed on Mondays, such as banks, and sometimes it's Tuesdays (one can never be sure...) along with some boulangeries.

Closing at lunchtimes is still observed by some supermarkets during the winter, but during the holiday seasons they then remain open. I just about get used to the change in timings, when it reverts to the norm.

Then there are the exceptionnellement fermé days, which are often enough to drive one to distraction.

All through the year, most shops are open until 7 pm.

I am so opposed to longer Sunday opening. My DS worked in retail for 20 years since leaving university and I have seen the harm done to ordinary family life. For years when his family was small, he was the absent father who was always at work. Supporting long opening hours are an army of logistics people and so on who are condemned to working far more hours than the official opening times. I am so thankful that he is now working in another industry where he can be at home with his family - he looks like a different person now that he can do simple things like take his DS to a football match. He used to have 2 days a fortnight off - mid week when the rest of the family were at school/work.

I can't see the need for these longer opening hours - people don't spend more money, they simply stretch it over a longer period. Can't these Sunday shoppers shop online instead? How I love to go to France when shops shut on Saturday lunchtime and don't reopen until 10 on Monday morning.

I have such mixed feelings on this, nothing to do with a religion or a day of "rest" ( chance would be a fine thing) but my friends in Germany seem to cope perfectly well without late, late opening on Saturday and Sundays are much more of a day of outings/leisure activities/visiting families etc.
And their economy is booming. Do we really feel this change is going to improve the quality of our lives, or just mean more bored or stressed looking people trailing round shopping malls? Shopping seems to have become our national leisure activity.

I don't see a problem with shops opening on Sundays. One doesn't have to shop on a Sunday if one if fortunate in having that choice. It certainly opens up choice for those who have difficulty fitting in shopping during a working week.

Shops won't open on Sundays if it doesn't pay to do so - therefore I see it as being customer driven.

Interesting to note that when Sunday opening was beginning to be the norm, it tended to be the big out of town shopping centres that opened, along with DIY stores and Garden Centres. It began to be seen as a leisure activity for the whole family.

But thatbags, with husband/partner working and children in school what time is there to spend together in the week

I understand the argument about the chipping away at family life and I accept that argument. However, I haven't seen any complaints (elsewhere, not on GN) from people who do work Sundays in shops and restaurants and cafés and garden centres, etc. Do the majority of them really mind?

As I said, I would have been glad to work on Sundays when the rest of my working week was spent 'with family'.

No need for this, just more chipping away at the family life of those who have to work in stores, but more time to shop for the nine to five, Mon to Fri worker I suppose

Yes, those shop workers who work Sundays get a day off in the week to compensate but for those with school age children that doesn't help what we think of as "family life"

Some shops in Suffolk still close on Wednesday afternoons.

#timestandsstill

Anya Our local fresh fish shop still closes on Wednesday afternoons.

It goes without saying that emergency and essential services have to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I worked shifts in an emergency service for twelve years, and I know there are many others on here that have done the same. It was tough, and the overnight shifts in particular took a toll on my health. I took on that job knowing I would have to do shift work but I think it is wrong to put workers in a situation where they have no choice. To make matters worse, it is usually the lowest paid workers who are in that position.

I am not a religious person but I think the soul or spirit or whatever you like to call it needs rest. I would love to see a return to half day and Sunday closing, to a time when a Bank holiday day out didn't mean a trip to Ikea, when children found out what it was like to be bored, when days existed where all you could hear was birds and people in their gardens. Let the small shops open if they wish - without competition from the giants for once - but please can we just stop the world sometimes and show our children there is a different way to live?

Just remembered something else. When I was a young mum (fulltime) in Edinburgh, the city council suggested having libraries open on Sundays. I would have welcomed the chance to work as a library assistant on Sundays at our grotty little local library. Alas, it was not to be.

Indeed Bags

Who remembers half-day closing?

One of my nieces is a nurse. She has mentioned twelve hour shifts. My teacher son-out-law always has work to do at weekends. My GP brother had to be on call at weekends on a rota system. My husband often has to work into the early hours or on weekends when new 'code' is being released.

The nine to five, Monday to Friday working week is a mythical hangover from earlier times.

I worked in shops and on trams in my student vacations. You got time off during the week in lieu if you worked Sundays. Presumably this still applies.

I don't think civilisation will collapse if Sunday comes to be regarded as the same as any other day. It might collapse for other reasons, but not for that one.

We live in a tourist town as we have lots of historic places they come to visit. But after doing that they head into the town. All most all our little shops, such as gift shops, cake shops, boutiques, etc and closed on Sunday's and Bank Holidays.

I'm often collared by tourists wandering aimlessly around the town asking is this it?

Perhaps selling food is a factor too?

Most smaller shops and smaller supermarkets are open all day Sunday anyway. It's the large supermarkets which have limited hours on a Sunday. I think it depends of the area of the shop, but I might have made that up.

Sorry jingle

As dhj has said up here in Scotland we already have shops open longer and it must be what people want as Sunday has become the new Saturday. I believe now that Sunday is just included in a normal working week and overtime is not always paid to employees. It won't be long before the demise of the 'weekend' altogether. I personally mourn that fact as I have said on another thread concerning Bank Holidays but as always it is a Godsend for some.
jbf Why Garden centres and not shops?

jingl What makes garden centres open longer on Sundays necessary but not shops?

rosesarered I believe nurses are expected to do very long shifts.

I took my mum for a long-awaited day surgery appointment last week. We arrived at 9.30 a.m. and the nurse assigned to the plastics surgery list went through various forms with us. She was on hand throughout the day to help with any concerns we had. When we eventually left, after a gruelling day, at around 7 p.m., "our" nurse was still there.

When I telephoned the hospital over an hour later with a query regarding after care, she was still there.

I assume that Deedaa has had experience in the retail sector and she confirms what I believed to be the case - that, despite assurances that people can "opt out" of certain days or shifts, in reality they are unlikely to feel comfortable asking for this.

With the pressures on families these days, I'm not surprised that so many relationships break down as family life seems to take a very poor second place to the god of "growth".

Perhaps young people who want the extra money could do it? I feel sorry for shop workers as well though, on their feet a lot.

When Sunday opening first came in it was a matter of choice if you wanted to work on Sundays and the money was good. Over the years most firms have come to expect employees to work on Sundays and evenings as part of their normal rota and you don't always get paid more. The idea that shop workers might also enjoy time with their families at the weekend doesn't occur to most people.