Sunday Shopping?

[Clair]

The deed is done.

The Sunday opening proposition has been made official.

http://www.service-public.fr/actualites/001227.html?xtor=EPR-140 (translation)

[Frenchie]

[quote user="Clair"]

• Food retailers: They will open on Sundays until 13h rather than midday.
  

[/quote]

All of them?

Or just the ones that were already open on sunday morning ?

( in  Niort, two supermarkets are currently open til 11.45, I guess those two ones will now be open til 1 pm )

Not a big change...

[WendyG]

People who look after animals have always worked on Sundays - cows need to be milked twice a day every day - all animals need to be either fed or at any rate checked on - do not feel the need to shop on Sundays myself but obviously some do.

[Gardengirl]

I can't say I have noticed any change in our little town, which gets many tourists. Apart from July and August, the opening hours seem to have stayed exactly the same, as have closing days. Maybe it's different in large places.

Personally, I hope it stays that way; I love quiet places on Sundays, and find that in UK the roads are busy all around areas where there are supermarkets etc. I have been into our town in UK once or twice on Sundays but won't go again; it was not a pleasant experience. In our little town in France you can tell it's either Sunday or Monday (many shops close on Mondays), as the car parks we walk by are empty.

[Frenchie]

Here there are still the same two supermarkets open on sunday morning.

But they now close at 12.30 instead of 11.45.

Not revolutionary .. 

I'm like you gardenGirl, I prefer sunday being a non shopping day.

Some say women are happy to work on sunday when the husband's home to look after the children. OK, but don't you think everyone is entitled to have one day a week when the whole family is home, to be able to share things with your kids and hubby , without the stress and hurry of ordinary life?

Going out for a walk, visiting family or friends, having the time to cook a sunday meal , playing Monopoly or whatever, relax watching a DVD.. My idea of a sunday, that I wish for everyone.

Of course there are people working in hospitals, etc.. but these people knew their job required working on sundays when they signed in, and not the woman, or man!! at the local supermarket...

 

 

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Some excellent points there Frenchie and Gardengirl. We do get caught up in this rat race at times, and although sometimes you'd love the shops to be open on a Sunday (because you've forgotten to buy that "thing"), at the end of the day, it's rarely a train smash and can wait til the next day.

Family life is something that this world is losing, and it's reflected in a lot of what we see in today's society. 100 years ago, the extended family was important, 30 years ago it turned into the nuclear family, and now, I wonder if it's being turned into the individual family, each member of the family seems to do their own thing nowadays.

[velcorin]

We've no kids. In-laws are a 7-8 hour drive. My parents are in the UK.

I leave home for work at 7am, return at 7.30pm. Rush round the banks, insurers, etc on Saturday. Food shop Sunday morning, then waste the rest of the day (done all the touristy things years ago), when we need a new lounge suite. WHY? because apparently it spells the end of the world if shops other than supermarkets open on a Sunday. Talk about restraint of trade[:@]. No wonder the supermarkets were so strongly in favour of other retailers not opening on a Sunday[:D]

 

[cooperlola]

Now that I'm grown up (well, pretty dusty now), I appreciate Sundays without shopping.  But my, how I detested the day when I was a kid - so boring with absolutely nothing to do except visit dull relatives and sit around the dining table staring at each other and then, worst of all, we had to go to church (Latin mass in those days) and listen to some old priest spouting dull sermons.  Funny how much one's ideas change with age - am I turning into my parents at last?[:-))]

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Shopping sounds just as boring as that cooperlola lol.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Richard"]Shopping sounds just as boring as that cooperlola lol.
[/quote]Good point![:D]

[Stan Streason]

I am happy with the current position in France because when I am there I am sort of "on holiday" so dont mind a day where relaxation is to the fore.

Working all week, when I am in the UK many household and garden chores get done at weekends.  How do you survive without the equivalent of B&Q being open for when you havent got the right parts?

Where I live its a rule that tractor/lawnmower belts can only break on a Sunday (when my only local supplier is closed).  If everything else were to be shut I couldnt stand the pressure of having to plan and sort everything on a Saturday..

[Gardengirl]

It's very rare for us to shop on a Sunday, other than for things like newspapers, which were always on sale on Sundays as long as I can remember. I disliked the thought of supermarkets opening on Sundays, knowing that things would change for everyone, due to increased traffic etc. I just felt that if I and others could plan our lives around shopping on 6 days, when shops weren't generally open late in the past, where was the problem? I worked, had children, did the gardening, helped with DIY etc. We coped fine.

So Sunday opening arrived in UK. It did change things, for the worse, in my opinion. I don't have to join in, but hate the busy roads, noise etc.

When in France, no Sunday opening around us, apart from a couple of tiny supermarkets open till 12, one of them all year round, plus the out of town garden centre and the bakers shops. It's peaceful, no traffic jams, and everyone seems to cope OK.

Maybe I'm selfish; but I can't see that Sunday opening in the UK manner has helped family lives.

GG