Trading Hours

[Cruise]

d) Zed (because steel sections of a similar shape are known as zeds

This is my answer.

Back to trading hours, something must be done to stop Adelaide dying at 6pm on the weekends

Adelaide dies at 6pm on weekends?

[jk1237]

I remember the Moonta St foodcourts (Chinatown) never used to be open on a Sunday, and it was thought it wouldn't work. Every Sunday, Moonta St is packed.

I reckon Sunday trading for tourist areas like Rundle Mall and Glenelg should be atleast until 7pm. Not everyone wants to get home to watch multi-CSI's

[Pat28]

Back to trading hours, something must be done to stop Adelaide dying at 6pm on the weekends

Adelaide dies at 6pm on weekends?

Ok, change it to days then, but it doesn't alter my argument

[Dr Rudi]

Could we be a bit more specific about what one wants open after 6.00pm in the city ? Cinemas are open, restaurants are open, hotels (some of them) are open, the convenience stores are open, Mary Martin is open; internet cafes are open ....

A couple of points - the traders are not open all the hours they could be now, so giving them a few more won't make much difference.

Whoever said that consumers have a finite spend clearly hasn't looked at retail expenditure over the last 10 years, or credit card debt.

[monotonehell]

Whoever said that consumers have a finite spend clearly hasn't looked at retail expenditure over the last 10 years, or credit card debt.

'Twas moi. They still have a finite spend, $x earned plus $y credit does not = infinity. Perhaps people are spending beyond their means on credit, but that doesn't alter the fact that they only have a certain amount that they can spend.

[AtD]

By that logic, all marketing is useless. Retailers want extra hours for the impulse buyers, not the anal budgeters.

[monotonehell]

By that logic, all marketing is useless. Retailers want extra hours for the impulse buyers, not the anal budgeters.

Again another misconception.
Marketing is not about increasing the overall market, it's about getting the consumer to buy your product (instead of your competitor's product), thus increasing your market share. (Ever heard that term before? Where's Omicron when you need him? )

Also retailers don't want opening hours to trade all the time, they want to create "events". Midnight sales and the like, in order to entice people to hold on to their available funds in order to splurge at that particular event.

[Omicron]

I would like to know exactly which businesses are clamouring for extended trading hours. Aside from the amusingly misinformed Stirling Griff who bleats mercilessly about the supposed medieval status of South Australia's trading hours, I'm not all that convinced that there is a serious push from retailers en-masse.

Could we be a bit more specific about what one wants open after 6.00pm in the city ? Cinemas are open, restaurants are open, hotels (some of them) are open, the convenience stores are open, Mary Martin is open; internet cafes are open ....

Indeed! What sort of businesses does one seek at 8pm on a weekday beyond those which are already open?

Whoever said that consumers have a finite spend clearly hasn't looked at retail expenditure over the last 10 years, or credit card debt.

Naturally, as income, wealth, population, superannuation, ease of acquiring loans and credit, consumer confidence etc. all increase, as they have done on average over the past ten years, the total spend of consumers on aggregate will also increase. The argument for extended trading hours, however, assumes that for an individual shopper, with all other variables remaining constant (income, wealth, credit limit etc.), the existence of an increased number of trading hours on a given day will result in greater spending by an indivdual than that which they would have outlaid under existing trading hours. In other words, the assumption is that the relationship between trading hours and consumer spend is causal; that more trading hours causes more spending, and that fewer hours of trade causes lesser spending.

I very much doubt such a causal relationship - a correlation, perhaps, but there is an eventual plateau of spending beyond which only very small increases are possible. There is no point to extended trading hours if spending is merely redistributed - that is, if increased spending on Wednesday nights at 8pm, for example, is accompanied by reduced spending on Mondays at 3pm.

By that logic, all marketing is useless. Retailers want extra hours for the impulse buyers, not the anal budgeters.

Impulse buyers? Who wants to impulsively purchase a barbecue/bird's nest fern/knife set beyond 9pm? It's perfectly simple to get milk/newspapers/Doritos/shampoo/toothpaste/pet food at that time, which seem to me like products that are far more likely to be bought spontaneously at hours outside of existing trading hours.

[Norman]

Naturally, as income, wealth, population, superannuation, ease of acquiring loans and credit, consumer confidence etc. all increase, as they have done on average over the past ten years, the total spend of consumers on aggregate will also increase.

Wouldn't that be subject to inflation though? Because most pay increases are in line with inflation.

[trevfromoz]

Ha Ha Ha I love the observation by Omicron on Stirling Griff’s (Independent Retail Consultant) view on shopping hours.
I just got back from Gold Coast where I spend most of the time checking out trading hours on shop doors given it is a major tourist city.
Most of the road side shops outside Cavil Ave are open regular office hours.
While the major Shopping centre’s close at 5:30 Monday – Wednesday and open late Thurs & Friday not the 24/7 trading that SG infers we need to survive.
It is interesting that in the USA (home of 24/7 trading), the most popular movie is an animation of a rubbish bin robot (Wall-E) who has spent 700 years trying to clean up the earth after it was trashed by over consuming humans who had abandoned earth to live in space. In the movie the US Government was sponsored / controlled by a company called Buy & Large who even had their logo on the Whitehouse seal.
Me thinks they are trying to get a message to the people that 24/7 consumerism is good for big business and bad for the planet

[AtD]

Impulse buyers? Who wants to impulsively purchase a barbecue/bird's nest fern/knife set beyond 9pm? It's perfectly simple to get milk/newspapers/Doritos/shampoo/toothpaste/pet food at that time, which seem to me like products that are far more likely to be bought spontaneously at hours outside of existing trading hours.

Which is exactly why Coles and Woolies want deregulation. The only time non-food retailers will probably take advantage is on Saturday nights.

[Omicron]

Impulse buyers? Who wants to impulsively purchase a barbecue/bird's nest fern/knife set beyond 9pm? It's perfectly simple to get milk/newspapers/Doritos/shampoo/toothpaste/pet food at that time, which seem to me like products that are far more likely to be bought spontaneously at hours outside of existing trading hours.

Which is exactly why Coles and Woolies want deregulation. The only time non-food retailers will probably take advantage is on Saturday nights.

But then, using my local area as an example, Coles Glengowrie is open until 10pm; Woolworths Petrol on Morphett Rd. Novar Gardens is open 24 hours; McDonald's Camden Park on Anzac Highway and Adelaide Airport on Tapley's Hill Rd. are both open 24 hours; K-Food Express on Jetty Rd at Glenelg is open 24 hours; Coles and Woolworths Glenelg are open from 6am until 9pm on weekdays, Woolworths Petrol on Brighton Rd. Somerton Park is open until 10pm, and so on.

I really don't see the need to deregulate or extend trading hours given the extent of businesses with exemptions.

[AtD]

Coles Glengowrie is open until 10pm; - Wasn't when I was there last, I'd like to see how they get away with that under the current laws.
McDonald's isn't considered retail.
Woolworths Petrol, K-Food Express, etc, are not subject to these trading laws. There is a minimum sqm site clause, allowing the corner deli to open but not any store over an arbitrary size.

Your argument suggests that no one wants to do the weekly shot beyond 9pm weeknights and 5pm weekends, an arbitrary time chosen by a bureaucrat. It is the consumer who ultimately should decide this. Visit your local Woolworth's at 10.50am on a Sunday or 4.55pm on a Saturday, and it’s clear that consumer demand exists. Let the market do what it does best, and give people what they want.

(Besides, shopping at midnight is great. Park near the door, no crowds, shorter queues, no screaming children, in and out with no dramas)

[Norman]

My Foodland around the corner is open 6am-11pm daily.

Coles Cliff Ctreet is open until 10pm on most nights AFAIK.

There was also a Coles on Goodwood Road that was open 24/7.

[AtD]

The Foodland might be under the maximum size, and IIRC the Coles on Goodwood Road closes for three hours at 9pm until midnight on weekdays.

If there are all these exemptions, then they might as well just cut the crap and deregulate.