In the wake of Morrisons and Asda bosses campaigning for longer Sunday trading hours on December 23, independent retailers are divided on whether they would open longer in the hopes of cashing in on last minute purchases, or give their staff the time to themselves.
Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips and Asda boss Andy Clarke met with business minister Michael Fallon last week in the hopes of lifting the six hour Sunday trading restriction on stores above 3,000 sq ft in size. Although the outcome is not yet known, Mr Philips has pledged to open Morrisons from 9am on the last pre-Christmas Sunday anyway so customers can browse for an extra hour before tills open at 10am.

Mr Philips has said the move is "an easy way to help the economy" and relieve families' stress at Christmastime, but Kitchen Kapers owner Gary Gordon says the campaign is born of coldblooded greed.

"It's only Asda and Morrisons getting involved because unlike Tesco and Sainsburys they have very few small convenience stores. Tesco and Sainsburys can operate as long as they like from these smaller outlets," the retailer told DIY Week.

Kitchen Kapers, an independent chain of five cookshops, is not liable to Sunday trading laws, but Mr Gordon uses them anyway. "It's not fair on the staff otherwise," he said, "Extending hours means managers have to be on call 24 hours a day. It's very wrong and the supermarkets are pushing it out of pure greed."

Home Hardware, on the other hand, said it would undoubtedly adopt the extended trading hours if given the opportunity. Austens Home Hardware branch manager Adrian Tulett told DIY Week: "We're on the borderline here at Austens but we do open 10 till four on a Sunday. I think we'd be happy to open later if the Sunday trading laws were relaxed on that day. We do get a lot of last minute purchases at Christmas - bakeware and gifts in particular, so often we are open until the last minute anyway."

Those who aren't affected by the Sunday trading laws still stand to lose sales to bigger retailers should they suddenly face extra competition on the 23rd. "We don't usually open on Sundays," Halls Mica Hardware owner Joyce Hall tells DIY Week, "But we will probably open 10 till three on the 23rd. I think it's unfair to make the staff at the supermarkets work longer hours before Christmas. Many of them are women with families." The retailer doesn't face as much competition from the supermarkets as from the likes of B&Q and Homebase, but if the longer hours are approved, presumedly the competition from this quarter will hit them hard.
"Christmas is our busiest time of the year," added Mrs Hall, "we're hoping this year will be the same!"

Less optimistic for this year's festive trade was Kitchen Kapers' Mr Gordon. "We get a lot of last minute purchases, but I don't think this year will be a great one though, there is too much pressure on the suppliers from the banks, and it all filters through.

"I think reports that Christmas will be 3% up are wrong - most high street retailers will be equal or down. It's because of the economy, the Olympics were a horror - six weeks of customers staying in and watching the television. Most of us won't recover for a while. So I think this Christmas will be Ok but not spectacular."
At the time of going to press, a spokesperson for Morrisons had not confirmed the outcome of the retailer's meeting with Mr Fallon.

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