Do you recall those good old days dear diary when local and provincial governments actually attempted to dictate what hours retail businesses could be open?
Now it seems, only businesses that serve liquor have hours of operation regulated, and those are fairly liberal.
It wasn’t that long ago when town and city council members engaged in spirited debates regarding hours of operation.
I recall several of those breaking out in Estevan council chambers as aldermen and women (as they were referred to then), talked endlessly about whether retailers should have a Monday closing edict enforced or whether the city should implement a “Wednesday half-holiday.” That meant closing your store at noon on Wednesday and opening again between 8 and 9 o’clock the next morning.
There were debates about Thursday night shopping versus Saturday night shopping. We could not have both. And how long could they stay open on that night?
Then we debated Sunday regulations.
The Ministerial Associations appealed to local governments to impose a ban on any sporting activities prior to noon on Sundays, ostensibly to give the family an opportunity to worship without having to worry about getting Timmy to the tournament, rather, than to Sunday School. Some businesses would be allowed to open on Sunday, others could not. Those that did, would be restricted in what they could sell.
Being a child of retail, I can recall our home being well stocked with items from our store since we knew some regular customers would phone on a Sunday and ask us to “do them a favour,” and sell them an item they needed desperately.
In those days, restaurants knew enough to stock up with a few extra loaves of bread or quarts of milk to help the harried housewife who hadn’t managed to get all the grocery shopping done on Saturday. Grocery stores were closed on Sundays you see.
With the arrival of more and more national and international franchise operations, who pretty well ignored and defied local hours of opening legislation and set their own standards, the great debates ended in a cloud of confusion, much like they had started. Nothing had ever been clearly defined in hours of opening legislation, provincially or locally. I can recall when Estevan councilors (aldermen/women) threw their hands up in frustration and declared that as far as they were now concerned, stores could open whenever they wanted (except those that sold the demon rum and other spirits) and if they wanted to run 24/7, 365 that would be fine with them.
Chambers of Commerce and business organizations then got involved and tried to instill a little sensibility into the situation with limited success.
Big stores with dozens of employees arranged extended hours and posted work schedules.
Little operators with two or three employees did what they could, as usual.
There are no debates left now.
I recall several years ago, I visited Saskatoon midweek, and was totally surprised when I saw all the retail stores in the big mall, turning off the lights and clanging their overhead doors closed at noon. Wednesday half-holiday. I couldn’t believe it. They were clinging to an ancient edict of a bygone era and, you know, I quietly congratulated them.
In warm countries they close mid-day and open again at night. Makes sense.
But here, we say stay open, pretty well, always. Because we don’t know what we wan;, but we just want the right not to go there, whenever we want to.
