Sunday opening hours

[larabell]

Why is it that Tesco, Debenhams, Sainsbury's et al. must close after only - what 5 hours? - while Blockbuster, B2 & Woolies can stay open all hours?

[moonacre]

The UK has something called the Sunday Trading Law. This resricts what hours shops can open and is specific over what can be sold and what can't. Though relaxed a few years ago, the laws still stand despite many attempts to have them repealed.

[larabell]

Yes, I am aware of the Sunday Trading Laws, my questions is more about WHY some stores have longer hours than others. Why did they decide that Boots can only be open 5 hours, but Blockbuster can have longer hours? Especially seeing as medicine would generally be more of a neccessity than DVDs.

[Bert]

I believe it depends on the floor area of the shop. If the area is less than 280 square metres (just over 3000 square feet) the shop can open for longer on a Sunday. This was to give small convenience stores a chance to compete with the big supermarkets - not much of a chance, in my opinion.

[spookylad]

Bert's right about the floor space issue, but it's also dependent on the specifics of the trade in question. Most businesses can only trade for 6 hours on a Sunday (things like grocers, record stores, bookshops, clothes stores) although some companies choose to only trade for 5. For some reason that seems to pre-date the Sunday trading laws other businesses can trade for longer - furniture stores, garden centres, restaurants and video libraries. Quite why is beyond most people, but it's tied up with employment issues as much as trading laws.