Storeowners say no to Sunday shopping

Few retailers who have never opened on Sundays plan any changes.

David Wilson, owner of Wilson’s Home Hardware in Barrington, says that “based on principle, plus our customer and employee interests, we are not anticipating any changes.�

When the option arose last year for stores in the province to open on Sundays prior to Christmas, Wilson’s passed and heard no complaints from customers.

During the lengthy public debate about the Sunday shopping issue, several theories were floated about the effect on profits from the added shopping day.

Bruce Atkinson, owner of Woodworkers Home Hardware, does not think the added day would increase business.

“There is just so much spending income in the area and we think that opening an extra day would just spread what is spent over a greater time frame,� Atkinson said.

Spencer’ Garden Center has been open for years on Sunday and does not expect much change in traffic to the store.

“Just the fact that more people may be on the roads on Sunday now may induce some people to shop here,� says owner Jim Spencer, “but frankly, I don’t think many stores around here will open.�

Neither Sobeys nor Atlantic Save Easy & Super Stores, the major retailers engaged in the recent lawsuit, plan to open here on Sundays. Sobeys plans to have 21 stores open soon, but spokesman Gerald Weseen says that, as far as he knows, “Shelburne is not among them.�

Barrington wasn’t mentioned as well.

The predominant sentiment among retailers is clearly to remain closed on Sundays, with many owners and managers suggesting that neither their customers nor employees would appreciate the change.

One prominent storeowner suggested that, “the only people who are in favour of Sunday shopping are those who would never have to work the extra day.�

With the plebiscite, lawsuit and government decision to allow shopping 364 days a year behind us, the contentious issue of protecting statutory holidays has become a hot political topic, with opposition parties threatening to raise the issue when the legislature sits again.

Cecil O’Donnell, former Tory MLA, has not budged an inch in his strident opposition to Sunday shopping, opining that workers will not be protected from working on Sundays against their will.

“The plebiscite made it clear what people wanted,� says O’Donnell, “and the elected officials should have fought much harder to enforce the people’s will.�

Current MLA Sterling Belliveau is very concerned about the lack of protection for workers on statutory holidays, saying, “some constituents are genuinely offended� that the government has acquiesced to shopping every day of the year but Remembrance Day.

Timothy Gillespie is a Shelburne-base freelance writer.