Sainsbury’s boss King: ‘No case for Sunday trading shift’
Justin King has urged the government to leave Sunday trading laws as they are.
The Sainsbury’s boss made his comments with ministers ponder making the temporary extension of trading hours for the Olympics and Paralympics permanent.
In a letter to the Sunday Telegraph, he said the move “needs reflection, as a great British compromise is in danger of being lost”.
“Maintaining Sunday’s special status has great merit for our customers and our colleagues, and relaxing Sunday trading laws is certainly not a magic answer to economic regeneration,” he wrote.
“The current trading rules play to common sense. Those calling for a permanent change will need to demonstrate a strong economic case for any change to be justified.”
His comments echo those he made in March this year, when he said his customers did not want the laws to be changed.
A joint letter from Usdaw, the Association of Convenience Stores and Bishop of Oxford John Pritchard also called for the laws to remain the same.
Readers' comments (2)
Paul Green | 20 Aug 2012 16:20
I really cannot understand why Sunday should be different to Saturday when it comes to shopping.
When people talk about extending Sunday trading hours it is always the supermarkets that they sight but what about all of the other retail outlets such fashion stores, DIY stores,book stores, chemists, furniture stores, department stores etc?
Shopping is a leisure activity and no one has yet to put forward a cogent argument for restricting opening hours on a Sunday.
Forcing people to work and lose their leisure time is often given as a good reason to keep the restricted hours and yet research shows that many people would welcome the opportunity to work on a Sunday and, if these were new jobs then this would certainly improve the unemployment figures.
Another thing that proponents of restricted Sunday trading hours conveniently forget is that there are thousands of people who already work all day on a Sunday.
I am really surprised at Justin King saying that the restricted trading times should be retained, I wonder if Sainbury's share holders would agree with him?
I can understand why the Church are against extending the shopping hours, they would probably like to see shops closed all day on Sunday but if we can now enjoy sport on a Sunday, visit pubs any time of the day, enjoy theme parks and museums, dine from 8.00am to 11.00pm, go to music concerts and do virtually anything (legal) that we want to do on a Sunday, why should a small minority stop us from shopping at a time that suits us?
We live in a democracy, so why don't the Government put put the question of Sunday trading to the people of the UK and let them decide? I am not a gambler but I would bet my house on the outcome.
Paul Green
Newark
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Anon | 21 Aug 2012 22:44
Ironic statement from the JS CEO as the Sainsburys local 250m from my house has just announced its new sunday trading hours in light of the governement review (now open until 5pm!)
Maybe Justin King needs to stay a bit closer to the operations of his business as JS seem to be already getting behind this initiative!
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