Do they not want our money?

[Gunbuster]

I'm sure all of us like a little bit of a shop now and then. I got talking with a friend on the bus the other day and something so blindly obvious came up.

Why are shops open when I'm working and closed when I'm not?

I work roughly 9am to 5.30pm every day and commute for an hour-ish each end. So why are the shops (other than supermarkets) closed when most of the working population are available to spend?

No wonder our stuff costs so much, they are employing people to stand around whilst we are working and closing when we aren't.

[Funkstar]

You would be surprised how busy town can be during working hours. I often have time off during the week (in return for working away over weekends etc). I seem to remember town being really quiet during the week, but not now.

This is Aberdeen, I don't know what other cities are like.

As an example of how shopping habits have changed, John Lewis used to close on a Sunday and Monday because they were thequiet days. Now they are open 7 days a week because of the amount of trade they were loosing out on.

[IBM]

It's a very good point, debated by many. My take is that british retailers are cheap, and don't want to fork out the money to have the shops open after hours, when most people are available to shop (even if it does make sound economic sense), and also that British workers (you can extend that to any country where this happens) are lazy, and don't want to work until 9-10pm.

It's one of the reasons that the big retailers like Ikea do really well. They're open just about every hour you could want them to be open, and people know it.

[charleski]

don't want to work until 9-10pm.

Because when they get off at 10pm they'd find all the shops were closed.

[usxhe190]

British laws prevent late night trading and restricts times of trading...pretty sad really...

[Gunbuster]

Because when they get off at 10pm they'd find all the shops were closed.

Gah and the circle is complete.

[Lee H]

This is why I love places like the Trafford Centre.

Late night shopping for me after I've finished work in a time I can relax and do it in.

[BUFF]

British laws prevent late night trading and restricts times of trading...pretty sad really...

We have 24 hr supermarkets, petrol stations etc.

[JPreston]

What about banks? How are we ever supposed to get to one of them