All supermarkets to open on Sundays

Tuesday 04 February 2014

Supermarkets and department stores could open seven-days-a-week in a fresh shake-up of Sunday trading laws.

Just three years after the States approved a new system to modernise restrictive rules on Sunday trading, a trial scheme that would drop the restriction on large shops trading seven-days-a-week has been proposed. The 18-month trial would start in June.

Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean has tabled the proposals for an 18-month trial of the new system that would drop the restrictions on Sunday trading . As things stand, only shops of less than 700 sq metres can apply for a Sunday trading permit, but larger shops are permitted to open on a set number of Sundays per year.

The trial has been set up to try to lure people back into town on a Sunday. It is hoped that it might drive some online shopping back to the high street.

But apart from the usual religious objections, there are also complaints from businesses who say that larger stores will hoover up all of the trade, and those who say the scheme will add another day’s opening costs without adding significant income to cover it.

Economic Development Minister Senator Alan Maclean said that three years on from the last reforms,  the economic environment had changed enormously.

He said: “The retail industry in Jersey finds itself under even greater pressure from multi-national companies boasting significant economies of scale, and the changing lifestyle demands of technology savvy customers. 

"Against the backdrop of a near doubling of high street shop closures between 2012 and 2013, we are seeking to assist the retail sector by removing barriers to trading on Sundays for the trial period.

“This trial is one aspect of a broader package of initiatives which has been created as part of Economic Development’s retail development programme which is designed to support the retail sector in Jersey while recognising that consumers’ lifestyles are changing and that retailers need to be able to offer them more flexibility and choice."