Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!evan From: evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch) Newsgroups: ont.general Subject: Re: Sunday shopping Keywords: maybe cynical surprisingly workable Message-ID: <259CE18B.5769@telly.on.ca> Date: 30 Dec 89 16:25:46 GMT References: <25999616.7242@telly.on.ca> <1989Dec29.113120.6892@me.toronto.edu> <69184@looking.on.ca> <1989Dec29.231135.20412@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> Organization: Public Access Usenet, Brampton, Ontario Lines: 62 In article <1989Dec29.231135.20412@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> mart@csri.toronto.edu (Mart Molle) writes: >So how about the following (not entirely tongue-in-cheek) compromise. >Following the moral leadership the government has shown wrt other Bad Things >(namely tobacco products and alcohol), why not a new "sin tax" that is only >collected on goods and services bought on Sunday. I suppose the PST could be raised a percent or two on Sundays. The mechanisms wouldn't be too difficult to implement. And while I'm not really in favour of it, I could live with it as a compromise. Frankly, I'm a little surprised by all this. The anti Sunday shopping folk appear needlessly worried that all malls, all stores, all retail workers will be pressed into working Sundays. Frankly, after the initial roar dies down, I don't think there'll be enough business to keep all of them open. Some malls will be open Sundays. Some won't. Some types of stores (like stereo or furniture shops) appear likely to do it, but they usually make strange hours anyway, and aren't generally located in malls. On the other hand, I don't see specialty clothing shops or car dealerships opening Sundays, even if it's legal. As for the malls imposing hours on stores, usually that's a policy that reflects either an 'image' that a mall wants to project, or the will of the store owners being imposed on a few stragglers. Many malls choose this kind of thing through a board made up of store owners, so I can't see a mall opening Sunday if a significant number of stores don't want it. A mall which pisses off its major tenants won't be successful for long. Perhaps in the short term every store will think it's necessary, 'cause they have no idea how much potential business there is. But if, as the anti-Sunday proponents suggest, many people value their day together and won't spend it shopping, then some stores won't see it that profitable and the pendulum will swing closer to the middle. I remember some time back, that Bramalea City Centre ran a flea market, getting around the Sunday laws by charging admission to the mall and calling it "amusement". They invited various local charities to collect the admission providing they could supply enough volunteers to staff each entrance. It didn't last, but not because of the law. The amount of Sunday business over the long term (not just around Xmas), didn't justify it. It's not a coincidence that the major retailers' annual poker game with governments over Sunday shopping happens each Christmas. Do you really think it'll be profitable for the Bay to open Sundays during February? I doubt it. Many malls extend hours before Christmas, (ie. till 10 each night), then reduce them again afterwards. Certainly the retail workers' reluctance to put in extra hours is balanced by the desire for more spending money that time of the year. I think if Sunday shopping is allowed, many stores might take advantage of it during the crunch season, but not bother the rest of the year. Can this be such a bad thing? -- Evan Leibovitch, Sound Software, located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario evan@telly.on.ca / uunet!attcan!telly!evan / (416)452-0504 "That's the last time I buy aftershave at a gas station" - Sam Malone