"It is a matter of urgency that we review our archaic retail laws and bring them into the new century, drafting new ones that are more pro-choice for both workers and shoppers," she said.
"The profits garden centres receive more than cover the $1000 fine they pay to trade on that day - proof that there is demand from customers for stores to be open. If customers want to shop, and workers want to work - why is the government stopping them?"
The manager of Kings Plant Barn in Takanini, which was open right throughout Easter weekend, said the store only closed its doors on Christmas Day and for half a day on Anzac Day.
She said the store was not visited by a labour inspector over the weekend.
"We are supplying a service to the public - they want to garden and we see it as if people want to buy plants and they want to work in the garden lets give them what they want.
"We were very, very busy, which is good."
A spokesman for Retail New Zealand said the number of fines being handed down to business owners had fallen.
According to figures from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, there was an average of 34 prosecutions each year between 2007 and 2012, however there were only two prosecutions in 2013, and none last year, he said.
"We think that customers are increasingly wanting to shop over Easter - and that the falling number of prosecutions reflects increasing consumer support for shops being able to open," he said.
Retail New Zealand chief executive Mark Johnston said it was time to review the laws as regulations did not "make sense" in 2015.
"Not only is the current law outdated, but it's filled with exemptions that render it meaningless. A corner dairy can open, but not a supermarket. You can go shopping in Queenstown or Taupo, but not Wanaka or Rotorua. A shop can be filled with workers packing internet orders - but it can't open the front door to the public."
Mr Johnston said he understood not everyone wanted to shop or work over public holidays such as Easter, but believed people should be given choices that best suited their needs.
"I'm not saying every shop must open, that everyone must shop, or that everyone must work - but if people want to, why should the Government get in the way?"
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment did not provide figures today on the number of businesses visited and fined over the weekend.
Who stays open?
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said on its website there were three and a half days when almost all shops were required to be closed -- Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Anzac Day, until 1pm.
Shops allowed to open were ones that sold items people could not put off buying until the next day, such as baby formula or pet food, and the quantity of goods for sale was no more than needed to meet the needs of people in the area.
Retailers were also allowed to sell goods, but not services.
Video stores were able to rent videos, but not sell them and hair salons were allowed to provide a hair cutting service, but were not allowed to sell hair products, the website said.
Also, a shop that was situated on a premises where there was a bona fide exhibition or show could sell goods that were somehow connected to that show or exhibition.
The bona fide exhibition or show must be devoted entirely or primarily to agriculture, art, industry and science, the website said.
