I remember the early 1980's UK Sunday shopping experience too. We had one convenience store that probably flouted laws and paid fines. To get there from our village involved getting to town and then another two miles the other side of town, opposite a garage, was the place where you could buy a pint of milk and some other items at a premium price.
The UK retail landscape has changed dramatically since then and in unanticipated ways. Newsagents ceased to be the cornerstone of community that they once were, nowadays we have convenience stores where most people don't walk out with a newspaper under their arm.
Maggie Thatcher was the one that pushed for the Sunday trading laws to be changed, thereafter we became a nation of shoppers (rather than shopkeepers, which was how we described Britain before then). I did not shop on Sunday for many years after that as I did not see the point of having sales spread out over 7 days. Also remember that we also had half day trading on Wednesdays (or another mid-week day) in most towns. So this was a big change.
I think that we would do well to re-visit Sunday trading with more 'Bank Holidays' on Sundays. The weekend after pay day might be good for Sunday trading with the rest of the Sundays being retail free days. We could also do with a few 'car free' Sundays combined with wither no retail or lots of retail more of the 'street festival' flavour.
In the days when the shops were closed on Sundays nobody starved.
The UK retail landscape has changed dramatically since then and in unanticipated ways. Newsagents ceased to be the cornerstone of community that they once were, nowadays we have convenience stores where most people don't walk out with a newspaper under their arm.
Maggie Thatcher was the one that pushed for the Sunday trading laws to be changed, thereafter we became a nation of shoppers (rather than shopkeepers, which was how we described Britain before then). I did not shop on Sunday for many years after that as I did not see the point of having sales spread out over 7 days. Also remember that we also had half day trading on Wednesdays (or another mid-week day) in most towns. So this was a big change.
I think that we would do well to re-visit Sunday trading with more 'Bank Holidays' on Sundays. The weekend after pay day might be good for Sunday trading with the rest of the Sundays being retail free days. We could also do with a few 'car free' Sundays combined with wither no retail or lots of retail more of the 'street festival' flavour.
In the days when the shops were closed on Sundays nobody starved.