FEATURE -- SUNDAY SHOPPING: Under the Retail Business Closing Day Act in Nova Scotia, only specific types of retail businesses are permitted to operate on Sundays. Some other businesses have managed to bend the rules in their favour.
By Christopher Vaughan <ch246018@dal.ca>
Posted: Feb. 16, 2006
Pete's Frootique in Halifax. Photo by Christopher Vaughan.
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The Nova Scotia government has made it clear which retail establishments can operate on Sundays. According to the Department of Justice, the Retail Business Closing Day Act gives specific guidelines for businesses wishing to open their doors every day of the week.
One type of business that is listed as being permitted to operate on Sundays is a convenience or local retail store, which primarily deals in the sales of groceries and whose retail sales area is not more than 4,000 sq. ft.
This means that large supermarkets such as Sobeys or Atlantic Superstore are only permitted to operate from Monday to Saturday. However, other retailers have finagled their way around this law by setting up their business in a manner that legally permits them to be open on Sundays.
One such business person to do this is Pete Luckett, owner of Pete's Frootique on Spring Garden Road in Halifax. Luckett operates numerous businesses in the same location under the banner of Pete's Frootique. According to the Justice Department, Luckett is operating within the law.
"Pete Luckett divides his business into separate corporate entities, which are all located under one roof. None of these entities exceed 4,000 sq. ft.," says department spokesperson Carla Grant. "A larger grocery store - like Sobeys, for instance - is one corporate entity and has space well in excess of 4,000 sq. ft. Therefore, this store is not permitted to open under the act."
Shoppers Drug Mart is open seven days a week. Photo by Christopher Vaughan.
Another type of business that has bent the rules in their favour are drug stores. While drug stores are permitted to be open seven days a week, businesses such as Shoppers Drug Mart have increased their retail sections of their stores to sell groceries alongside the usual pharmacy fare.
This has met with strong criticism from grocery retailers that are not permitted to be open on Sundays.
"The problem is that many large retailers (Sobeys, Atlantic Wholesalers) perceive that they are at a competitive disadvantage in that pharmacies carry an increasing proportion of grocery and general merchandise items in their product mix and these stores may open on Sundays," says Gordon Fullerton, assistant professor of marketing at the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's Unversity.
He also says grocery retailers have obeyed the law thus far and have decided not to open on Sundays. He thinks that even if they were to open illegally, there may not be much done about it.
"In the event that retailers decide to press the government on this issue by violating the law, it will be interesting to see the extent that local police will enforce the law since this may not be the most pressing issue on their agendas," says Fullerton.
Others think that the province should let each municipality decide for themselves if they want to have Sunday shopping. Don MacKinnon, president and CEO of Better Business Bureau of the Maritime Provinces Inc., supports this idea.
"I think it's something that should be turned over to the municipalities and if they want to market their area based upon the business environment, then fine, do so," says MacKinnon. "If there's a tourist situation that's available for one particular area and they want to open on Sunday, let them."
He notes that the majority of small businesses across the province don't want to be open seven days a week and that the majority of support for Sunday shopping comes from businesses in the Halifax region.
"Who in Shelburne wants to open Sunday?" asks MacKinnon. "But it's a different priority in Halifax."
Grant says the Department of Justice met recently with Shoppers Drug Mart, Sobeys and Atlantic Superstore to discuss the issue.
"As a result [of these meetings] government announced new amendments to the regulations surrounding the definition of 'drug store,'" says Grant.
Effective March 1, 2006, the law will be amended. The new regulations will be that drug stores can't dedicate any more than 2,000 sq. ft. of their retail space to food and that they cannot have a retail space bigger than 20,000 sq. ft.
Even with these amended regulations, Fullerton thinks that there will continue be a strong demand from retailers and customers on the government to allow Sunday shopping.
"While the government officially acknowledges that the people have spoken on this, I am not so sure that they entirely believe this line," he says. "Particularly given that the public is closely divided on the issue."
The 2004 plebiscite on Sunday shopping divided the province on the issue. About 55 per cent voted against the extra shopping day, with most of these votes coming from the province's rural areas. The majority of supporters came from urban areas.
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