Sunday shoppers shut out

Tauranga Mainstreet wants more shops to open on Sundays to compete with the malls.

Nearly 60 per cent of Tauranga downtown's retail shops were closed yesterday for Father's Day and the first day of spring.

A survey by the Bay of Plenty Times showed that of the 115 groundfloor shops with the potential to trade, only 45 were open for business.

While Tauranga Mainstreet wanted more shops to open on Sundays in order to compete with the malls, retailers had diverse views on the issue.

Excluded from yesterday's count were bars, cafes, dairies, florists, nail and body shops including tattooists, and financial outlets such as banks and other services that never open on weekends.

Molloy's Menswear owner Jason Dovey was one of many downtown retailers that only opened Sundays in the lead-up to Christmas.

"It's one of those calls that you have to make when you are an owner/operator."

Unlike malls where retailers had to open seven days, he believed that Sunday opening would never be achieved across all the downtown. Most that opened were national chain stores or branded cellphone shops.

Mr Dovey said it came down to individual choice and whether it was viable or not. His clients knew Molloy's was a Monday to Saturday business, and Sunday was another overhead. "Even in December it can be quite flat."

"You have to weigh it up. I have three kids and I want to spend a bit of time with the kids. With owner/operators, you have got to be the face of the business, your clients expect you to be there."

The real issue for the downtown was that Tauranga had an oversupply of shops for its population and there were too many satellite retail areas, he said.

Broncos Outdoors owner Ben Tuck said his store opened from 10am to 2pm on Sundays as a service to customers. He said it was not always about the takings on a Sunday but seeing the same faces come back again a couple of days later with their partners to make a purchase.

Mr Tuck was not surprised by the results of yesterday's survey, although he did not believe business owners were apathetic.

However, he said that modern retailing was a seven-day business and staff were rostered accordingly. "I know retailers hate it, but it is what you have to do ... you have got to get used to it and move on."

Mr Tuck said people's shopping habits had changed so much that Saturday and Sunday accounted for 25 per cent of business.

Tauranga Mainstreet deputy chairperson Anne Pankhurst said that if retailers wanted to compete with the malls, then regular Sunday opening was the first thing they should do.

"Retailing is changing and to open seven days a week is pretty important."

She said Mainstreet was working hard to have events in the downtown every weekend to give retailers the confidence to open on Sundays.

Devonport Rd retailer Heather Chander, of Indelible, said business was up and down on Sundays and it would be great if more shops were open. "You can't pick it. I am pretty happy with Sundays."

A lot of her Sunday business was from out-of-town shoppers and they all commented on downtown's nice trendy little shops, she said.