Shop until you drop. Or not!
Holiday shopping. It raises the ire of some and warms the debit cards of others.
Depending on how old you are you may remember when Sunday shopping was brought into Ontario. You would have thought we were talking about public hangings! The outcry! Some folks felt that the complete decline of the nuclear family was imminent.
Unfortunately, their arguments centered on claims of a lack of desire for shopping on the so-called Family Day, but that turned out to be not the case at all. In fact, if you go out to a store or mall on a Sunday, you can see for yourself that it’s quite the opposite.
Now city council is considering whether to allow wide open shopping every day except Christmas, even outside of designated tourist areas. No more fines for throwing open the tills on Good Friday. Each and every retailer would be allowed to open.
If the city’s economic development committee agrees, the concept will go to a full council vote and could be in place before this Good Friday, next month. Ladies and gentlemen, start your protests or your bank accounts!
February 20th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I would like to have shops closed on Christmas, Good Friday and Easter Sunday as well as January 1. Exceptions: drugstores, pharmacies.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Given the increasing average debt load individuals and families carry, existing lack of self control will only make this worse. A good old fashioned play date is a great way to make things fun and inexpensive!
February 20th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I cannot believe people are thinking of doing this. I was against Sunday shopping and still am. I have shopped on Sunday a handful of times only and I am for sure against opening stores on more holidays. I guess the people that are looking for this do not have family or friends that would have to work on these days. We are all so busy, so tired and have little time for families and we wonder why we have so many kids in trouble and why marriages are breaking up all the time. We really have to look at our quality of live and start making changes to improve things and opening stores on more days will not do this. Yes people go shopping on Sunday and holidays, but that is because they are open and it has become habit as well as the norm for younger people. I spent my family day with my family and we made it a very special day for all of us, we had lots of fun and stayed home.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:46 am
Is it really going to jumpstart the economy? Surely people are going to spend about the same amount of money, they’re now just going to do some of their shopping on stat holidays instead of in the evening after work. I wonder how much more revenue stores really have earned post-Sunday opening compared to before, taking inflation into account, and adding in the additional cost of staffing.
I don’t have any hang ups, religious or otherwise, about working on Sundays or stat holidays. But my only issue with allowing everything to open on stat holidays as well is that it’s the people who have the least who will end up being shafted, the ones who already work 2 or 3 jobs to try and keep a roof over their heads, and now will have no choice but to work on the stat holidays as well. Granted, it’s probably extra money, but no matter what the law says, we all know that refusing to work on a Sunday or on a stat holiday if requested probably means you’re bumped up the list for a pink slip when they need to let someone go. They’ll come up with some other excuse of course, for fear of being accused of religious discrimination (at least for the Sunday thing), but it’s the reality anyway. I have the same issues with contract work. It’s the people who can least afford to do without benefits who usually get into working on contract. They should tighten up the laws, IMHO, to ensure that contracts that get renewed more than once are treated the same as full-time jobs to ensure that sneaky employers aren’t just using that mechanism to get around the Employment Standards Act.
I also think it’s hilarilious to see the mad line-ups the day before stores are going to be closed, especially at things like grocery stores, where they have to have police directing traffic. People absolutely panic at the prospect of a store being closed for one day. We have so much convenience, we can’t handle doing without!
February 21st, 2008 at 9:01 am
The nuclear family no longer exists. Those days of yore you described above are long gone. We’ve degraded to a society where work comes before our family. No one works 7.5-8 hours a day anymore, let alone between the core hours of 9-5. Now we want to open up the malls year round? Whats so special about Christmas day if Good Friday/Easter Monday are scoffed at?
Lets assume 10 business days for holidays per annum where retailers are closed. That leaves 355 days in the year to shop. Isn’t 97% of year enough to shop? Shouldn’t people organize their shopping time as they’re forced to organize their work time–all in an effort to spend that 3% of the year dedicated to their family?
February 21st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Hi Lisa. I would like to say that I do remember when Sunday shopping was introduced in Ontario. I was and still am against it, although I do find myself occasionally shopping on Sundays, but only out of pure necessity.
I think it’s wrong for retailers to be open on statutory holidays. If it’s a holiday, then nobody should be open. These people already have to work long hours and deal with difficult people day in and day out. Give them a break and let them have the day off!
That’s my take on it. Hopefully the government will see things the same way. Not likely though.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:23 pm
I would like to see the shops closed on holidays, not so much for the sake of the customers, but for the sake of the front-line staff. My brother works in retail and his days off are already out of sync with his wife’s and children’s days off. The advent of 364 day shopping would make it worse. I don’t consider a model airplane to be an emergency purchase. I must admit that it would be good to have a few pharmacies open - just in case.