Trading Hours

[crawf]

In someways I would rather see the markets open on Sunday than Wednesday.

[AtD]

How about just allowing the traders to open whenever they want, rather than mandating minimums and maximums on them? Let the market decide.

[monotonehell]

I disagree. Many other family owned business operate most days of the week, like local deli's, newsagents, hairdressers, so it would be in their best interests to open Wed aswell, to encourage more people. I dislike the markets not being open on a Wed

How do you know what their best interests are? chatted with them all, have you?

I love the Central markets. Prob my favourite part of the city, so Id love to see it open fully on Wednesdays

Agree, but again i'm in two minds...

How about just allowing the traders to open whenever they want, rather than mandating minimums and maximums on them? Let the market decide.

The tradition of the greengrocers in the Central Market was that they were both the market gardeners as well as the retailers. I doubt that this is still the case as there's far more than market gardeners' produce available there these days, but that was the pattern that set up the not trading on Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday - they needed some time to tend to their gardens.

AtD, that's the situation now. If you go into the Markets on non Market days you will see some traders who choose to open. It's mostly the non green grocers (although there is one who does). The only mandates here are the council trying to force traders to open.

[Wayno]

Central markets to trial opening on wednesday's for 6 months...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 390136.htm

The Adelaide Central Market will soon be open for business five days a week.

The City Council last night gave the go-ahead for a six-month trial of Wednesday trading, meaning the market will now be open from Tuesday through to Saturday.

Some traders say they do not expect everyone to take up the extra day's trading straight away, but that it will be more popular than last year's failed bid for Sunday trading.

The trial of Wednesday trading starts on November 26.

[cruel_world00]

Central markets to trial opening on wednesday's for 6 months...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... 390136.htm

The Adelaide Central Market will soon be open for business five days a week.

The City Council last night gave the go-ahead for a six-month trial of Wednesday trading, meaning the market will now be open from Tuesday through to Saturday.

Some traders say they do not expect everyone to take up the extra day's trading straight away, but that it will be more popular than last year's failed bid for Sunday trading.

The trial of Wednesday trading starts on November 26.

Finally some common sense from the council. Let's hope it's a success and continues next year.

[monotonehell]

Some of the stall holders do trade on Wednesday already, but this will be interesting as Wednesday is usually a set-up day. That's the day all the isles are blocked with vans, pallets, boxes and forklifts.

Traditionally the market only traded on odd days as the market gardeners needed the rest of the week to tend their gardens. I wonder how many traders are also growers these days.

See what happens.

[Wayno]

Trading on public holidays

New push on shop trading hours

RUNDLE Mall traders and Adelaide City Councillor Ralph Clarke are demanding public holiday trading in the city in an attempt to increase economic activity.

Mr Clarke, a former state Labor deputy leader, will lobby council colleagues Tuesday night to write to Premier Mike Rann demanding reform to allow shops to open on public holidays.

This comes as a council report finds there are "compelling" arguments for reform and liberalising trading hours would increase "economic development and prosperity".

"It's a nonsense to have the CBD closed (on public holidays)," Mr Clarke said.

The proposal has support of the Rundle Mall Management Authority.Industrial Relations Minister Paul Holloway said the Government had "no intention" of reviewing the current shop trading hours for public holidays.

[monotonehell]

I think the fact that we use retail activity as a major indicator of economic activity is a sign that our society is going down.

[Omicron]

It must be put on the record that South Australians who stroll down Rundle Mall on public holidays and express genuine confusion that the shops are not open are certifiable imbeciles. I am slightly sympathetic for visitors who may not be familiar with our trading hours, although I'd suggest that such people are impossibly dull and of limited imagination, but for local residents to remain confused about public holidays despite their consistent, prominent promotion is decidedly amusing. I for one hope to never befriend someone so dull as to express genuine indignation at the state of shopping hours on public holidays. What a pathetic existence.

With all that said, I am increasingly in favour of shops being able to choose their opening hours for themselves. As an employee of Kmart, I have seen first-hand the effects of increased trading hours - when our 7pm closing time on weekdays was extended to 9pm, customer numbers were amusingly hopeless for the first six months of trade. Nowadays, however, Thursday trade (which was previously the second-most important day of the week due to the tradition of suburban late-night shopping) is less crucial to the week's revenue than before. In other words, our experience has shown that extended trading during non-traditional times has eventually proved to be relatively successful when the increased trade on other weekdays is measured against the slight drop-off in trade on Tursdays. I don't see why other retail businesses should be denied the opportunity to see if the same benefits apply to them.

[fabricator]

Extending trading hours make no sense really, people still earn the same wage and spend the same money. The ONLY difference is the money is spent over a longer period of time, thus more money is spent on lighting, staff wages, and maintenance (can't do certain work when its open).

I DEEPLY RESENT, having to pay more just so idiots can go shopping on sunday, every weeknight, public holidays etc. Its all the direct result of our work-a-holic lifestyle, um deathstyle as we have no life if we work 40+ hours a week. Remember in the 1950s everyone got half or a full weekday off so they could go shopping ? At current rates the shops will be closed from 9am to 5pm weekdays because there isn't enough customers during that time to make it profitable.

[Aidan]

Extending trading hours make no sense really, people still earn the same wage and spend the same money. The ONLY difference is the money is spent over a longer period of time, thus more money is spent on lighting, staff wages, and maintenance (can't do certain work when its open).

I DEEPLY RESENT, having to pay more just so idiots can go shopping on sunday, every weeknight, public holidays etc. Its all the direct result of our work-a-holic lifestyle, um deathstyle as we have no life if we work 40+ hours a week. Remember in the 1950s everyone got half or a full weekday off so they could go shopping ? At current rates the shops will be closed from 9am to 5pm weekdays because there isn't enough customers during that time to make it profitable.

I deeply resent having to carry more around with me (or spend ridiculous amounts at overpriced convenience stores) just because the state government forces Coles in the City to close from 9pm to midnight. It's not as if you have to pay any more for that, because prices are determined mainly by the amount of competition there is.

I also resent regulation of shopping hours in Glenelg. There's plenty of tourists there so there is an advantage to the state in having the shops open longer. And it was nice that somewhere was always open when you needed to get stuff.

And there are significant cost advantages to spreading out opening hours - for a start, less car parking is needed.

[Wayno]

From ABC Online:

Rundle Mall trading in Adelaide is to be extended on weeknights from next week.

The Mall Management Authority said 7:00pm closing would be the first significant change to trading hours since 1994, when shops were allowed to open on Sundays.

It said there had been widespread support among retailers to open later from Monday to Thursday.

Many city shops have long opened until 9:00pm on Fridays.

It is expected that about three-quarters of Rundle Mall traders and more than half of those in the city's big shopping complexes will start longer trading from next Tuesday, the day after the public holiday.