This was the first Easter Sunday open for some Emerson St retailers - such as Glassons.
The store's second in charge Kahlia Jacobs said they had only opened yesterday as their "brother" store Hallensteins had. But given yesterday's success, she thought they would probably open on Easter Sunday next year.
When asked how business had been, she said "it's been crazy, busier than a usual Sunday."
As most clothing stores on Emerson St were closed, she thought this might have drawn customers to them.
It was also business as usual at Hannahs shoe store.
Duty manager Kylie Matthews said opening yesterday was a "bit of a trial" as they had never opened at Easter before.
She said they would probably open again next year, as business "hadn't been too bad" during the day, and there had been several busy periods.
For other businesses - particularly tourist oriented ones- opening on Easter Sunday was nothing new.
This included Marine Parade's Lick This icecream parlour, which was packed with customers yesterday.
Owner Steve Manning said they always opened on Easter Sunday as they were exempt from the legislation - however he thought they would do so even if it was illegal.
He said he could see both sides of the Easter Trading argument, but with people flocking to Napier, and locals enjoying the long Easter weekend, "if we didn't open I think there would be a lot of disappointed people".
His wife and co-owner Caroline Manning said icecream went with holiday activities families enjoyed together - evidenced by the families who crowded into the store yesterday after trips along the foreshore.
Impacting family time had been one of the arguments against the policy.
Supporting it was that Napier should be "open for business" on one of the busiest tourist weekends, with there said to be the potential for economic benefit for businesses which chose to open.
Yesterday Napier mayor Bill Dalton was tight-lipped on whether he felt the policy had been a success, but said he would be interested to see the outcome of his council's decision.
Although Napier was the first council in the region to give businesses the option to open on Easter Sunday, some in Hastings flouted the law yesterday.
One of the few operating in Hastings CBD was Focal Point Cinema - where duty manager Zachary Merrylees said it was "business as usual".
He said they opened on Easter Sunday every year, and did not think they had ever received a fine.
Business had been steady and normal for a Sunday, he said, although there were more children about as it was the school holidays.
Also open yesterday was Mitre 10 Mega Hastings - both Hastings and Napier stores have operated on Easter Sunday for the past decade, but this year would be the first the Hastings store was the only one to do so illegally.
Mitre 10 Mega managing director Graeme Ricketts was unavailable to comment yesterday.