Oderings to defy Easter law

KATE NEWTON
Havelock North garden centre Oderings will again open its doors on Good Friday and take the $1000 fine on the chin for defying Easter trading laws.
Oderings was one of two Hawke's Bay retailers prosecuted as a result of breaching shop trading legislation over Easter last year.
Palmers Garden World in Hastings was also prosecuted for opening on Good Friday last year but said it would be staying shut this year.
Oderings' Christchurch-based director Darryn Odering said his business had opened on Good Friday for the past 36 years and would continue to do so this year.
Oderings has been prosecuted every year since 2000 for opening on Good Friday and could again face $1000 for each of its nine stores nationwide if prosecuted.
The decision to defy the law was based on principle and not money-making tactics, Mr Odering said.
"People can't garden at night and we know they tend to do it over a long weekend. Autumn is also a great time for gardening," Mr Odering said.
A special exemption meant garden centres were able to open legally before 1990 but an amendment to the law, designed to liberalise trading hours, removed that exemption.
"When you liberalise something you don't usually take away people's rights," Mr Odering said.
Principal Labour inspector Muriel Kelly said Department of Labour staff would be visiting Hawke's Bay shops open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday this year.
"There are a number of reasons why Department inspectors may visit retailers," she said.
"The retailer may have previously breached shop-trading hours or advertised that they will be open on one of the three and a half restricted days when they are legally obliged to close."
Inspectors would also visit retailers if there was a public complaint about the business being open.
Other Hawke's Bay garden centres including Palmers Hastings, Palmers Napier and Tamatea Greenworld would be playing it safe and choosing not to open on Good Friday. Napier MP Chris Tremain said he supported personal choice in trading hours.
"I believe that businesses should have the right to open whenever they want to meet customer demand," Mr Tremain said.
"Hawke's Bay is a tourist destination and many tourists expect to be able to access services seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year."
Hastings MP Craig Foss also supported personal choice over Easter trading for the sake of the tourist industry.
"Of course those businesses that choose to open, and of course those employees who want to work, should be allowed to without fear of the full force of the Government coming down on them," Mr Foss said.
"I find it a cringe and embarrassing year after year to read how a garden centre is charged because a Hawke's Bay resident wanted to pick up a couple of pot plants over Easter. Easter is also a time for families to get together, go out to eat, do those garden chores, get jobs around the house completed."