Limited Easter trading hours are bringing extra financial burdens for businesses according to retailers.
The Retail Radar survey shows almost 70 percent of retailers are concerned about the cost of living - with merchant fees also top of mind.
The law says local council have the final say on when businesses are allowed to open.
Retail NZ Chief Executive Carolyn Young says these restrictions are 'outdated' and don't reflect the current market.
"When these laws were first established, we didn't have the internet, people weren't shopping 24/7 online any day they wanted - and families work in different ways and shopping is available in different ways."
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News talks'b.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Retailers are saying that limited Easter trading hours are bringing
extra financial burdens for businesses. The Retail Radar survey from
Retail New Zealand shows they want the ability to decide
whether or not businesses can be open on restricted trading
days Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The law says local
council have the final say on when businesses are allowed
to open. Chief Executive of Retail New Zealand, Carolyn Young
(00:34):
is with me now. Good morning Morena and happy esther
and to you too. Are these laws outdated?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Carolyn? Look, we do think they are. In twenty twenty five,
when these laws were established, we didn't have the Internet.
People went shopping twenty four to seven online at any
day that they wanted the year, and families work in
different ways and shoppings available in different ways. In nineteen
ninety we only just started shopping on Saturdays.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
You make a very good point. Consumers can shop online
at any time, so what purpose do these restrictions really serve?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, they are old restrictions, aren't they And what happens
is that each local authority or counselors would refer them
to them. Normally, they determine and set whether or not
a store can open in their area, and that means
that from region to region it can be quite different
on a good Friday and Easter Sunday. And I guess
(01:34):
there's a couple of things about it. One is that
people often say, well, you know, what about family time
and what about workers having a day off? And workers
have the right to say I don't want to work
on each Sunday and their employer can't make them do that.
We fully support that right for workers to have that,
But what we do say in times like now, there's
(01:56):
a lot of young people that we can retail, and
lots of people that don't earn big sums of money,
and many people might be quite happy to earn time
and a half and have a day and low so
that they could take the day off at a time
when it suits them and their family. You know, mom,
dad and two kids at home is not the family
that we had thirty five years ago. Not everybody has
(02:21):
that sort of environment, and it might be that having
a day off to go to one of your children's recitals,
or to a sports event, or just taking time out
for yourself might be the better way to fulfill the
family needs rather than necessarily everyone's spending the day at
home on Easter Sunday. That doesn't necessarily mean that everyone's
(02:43):
going to spend time together.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Carolyn, do you know how many retailers want to be
open on days like Good Friday, Andy's to Sunday.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, two thirds of the people of ants that are
survey indicated that they would like the choice. And so
I think the thing about that is that we know
that not every store in every area is interested in opening.
And as an example, I grew up in mass Now
the stores in masses And highly likely wouldn't open on
Easter Sunday, But fifteen twenty k's down the road in Greytown,
(03:16):
the stores would probably open because Greytown is a destination
that people drive to, they'll take the weekend away, they'll
go and spend time there, and it's a place that
would have a thriving hub where people would want to
go to. So it's the horses for Courses scenario, and
it's one of those things where not everybody has to open,
but retailers want the choice to be able to open
(03:39):
and instead of having just online shopping, they want the
choice where people can come into their store.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Is it a huge amount of work for a council
to survey it's businesses to work this out. Do you
think to get a feel for what the community wants.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Well, I don't know that they get a feel for
what the community wants. I think they just make a
decision on what they think. So what we know is
that if you're in a in a more of an
international tourist area like the Latu or Topo or Queenstown,
those councils had provided exemptions for their businesses to open,
(04:18):
but if you're elsewhere in the country, in many places,
they are not. So you know, I think it's not
necessarily needs to be a council decision, but just for
the stores to have the ability to open should they
wish to do.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Is there too much confusion or unfeness around what can
open and what count.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well, it is super confusing, isn't it Easter? Because the
thing is is that the actual public holidays are Good
Friday and Easter Monday. Easter Sunday is not a public holiday,
and yet the stores are closed. The retail stores are
closed on Easter Sunday, so it's really confusing from that
perspective in the first instance. So it's the same thing
(05:02):
with hospitality, where you can go out and buy a
meal or go to a cafe, but you shouldn't be
paying a surd charge on Easter Sunday. So it is
quite confusing because everybody feels that Easter Sunday is the
holiday because you know, a highly Christian religious event, but
(05:22):
actually Easter Monday is the holiday. So it is really confusing.
And the stores can open on the Monday, but the
can open on the Monday, and then.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
It's confusing if you're a young worker and you're not
entirely sure what your entitlements are and things. How are
retailers reacting to potential changes to the Holiday Act to
kind of simplify all this of it.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, well, the Holidays Act doesn't really influence Easter trading,
but we know that Minister then Valden is looking at
pro writering sickly and changing your annual holidays so that
they start to recrue on an hourly basis from the
day that you start. So the sick cleve entitlement is
(06:02):
a complicated one because at the moment, if you work
part time, you're entitled to ten days sickly. So if
you were and in retail, there's lots of part time workers,
So if you were one day weeks and you can
take ten days sickly, which would be ten weeks, and
you'd have your four weeks leave, so you'd only work
thirty eight weeks of the fifty two weeks that are allocated.
(06:26):
So we don't feel that that's fair, and so a
pro rated sicklyave is actually a much more accurate way
for people to be able to be taking sickleave in
the first place. So you know, if you work one
day a week, you'd be entitled to when a normal
work week is five days, you'd be entitled to twenty
(06:46):
percent of the sicklave.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Carolyn, how much do businesses benefit from being able to
make their own decision as to whether they open over Easter?
You know how much they financially benefit, because to be honest,
I would suspect that they experience a boom and sales
around these days of closure. Anyway, it seems like every
man in his wife is out shopping to prepare for
the one day that they can't hit out. It does
(07:10):
already feel like it's a very busy time and people
are doing well throughout Easter.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yes, So you know what we do now is when
there's holidays like this where we've got a long weekend
of four days, there's more people out about. People are
in that holiday mode and they may have traveled away
from home and are more likely to spend money. Now
in this sort of economy, when it's been really tough
for retailers and we're seeing stores, you know, they having
(07:36):
downward trend and sales year on year. You know, just
to have a couple of days where you've got a
four day weekend and you've got people in your story
every day and they're willing to spend and are spending
is really helpful.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Carolyn Young, thanks so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Karen Young is the chief executive of Retail New Zealand,
and thank you very much for your text. You might
ast Welcome to Texas Morning. On ninety two and ninety two.
One text reads Easter Sunday is not a public holiday. However,
I work in a bottle store and it's and I
don't get paid because of that. Somebody else said morning.
One thing that many people don't know about Easter Sundays.
You don't get time and a half if you have
to work. I worked many years in a hotel and
(08:16):
it's just normal payday. It probably relates to laws made
when hardly anyone worked on a Sunday. I think you're
probably right about that mail. So the thing is that
everyone wins and loses. It depends what kind of business
you work in, where you're working, what kind of job
you have. You know, that's the thing. It's sort of
while it can be amazing for one person. And I
had a lovely text from Kathy who said she had
(08:37):
time at the beach on a public holiday and had
the pleasure of seeing a rainbow and it was wonderful.
For other people, they're missing out on pay that they
thought that they were going to get. Text here reads
we don't have outdated laws. Just go to Europe Farm
or occasions when shops are closed holand for example, outside
the tourist area's shops are closed every Sunday morning. And
I totally get that right. And look, if you're not
a tourist spot, you should absolutely be able to close
(08:59):
and have the day off. But if you are a
spot where your business really benefits from it, shouldn't you
be able to decide your local cancer will be able
to decide whether you do open or not. And finally
here Francisca Carolyn Young's organization is driven by desperation and greed.
If people need stuff, they will still bar it when
the shops open again. How has our society become so
useless that people can't last without the odd day that
(09:20):
shops aren't open. Let shop workers have a couple of
guaranteed days off. Thank you for the text you can
keep them coming ninety two ninety two.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News talks'b.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Retailers are saying that limited Easter trading hours are bringing
extra financial burdens for businesses. The Retail Radar survey from
Retail New Zealand shows they want the ability to decide
whether or not businesses can be open on restricted trading
days Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The law says local
council have the final say on when businesses are allowed
to open. Chief Executive of Retail New Zealand, Carolyn Young
(00:34):
is with me now. Good morning Morena and happy esther
and to you too. Are these laws outdated?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Carolyn? Look, we do think they are. In twenty twenty five,
when these laws were established, we didn't have the Internet.
People went shopping twenty four to seven online at any
day that they wanted the year, and families work in
different ways and shoppings available in different ways. In nineteen
ninety we only just started shopping on Saturdays.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
You make a very good point. Consumers can shop online
at any time, so what purpose do these restrictions really serve?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, they are old restrictions, aren't they And what happens
is that each local authority or counselors would refer them
to them. Normally, they determine and set whether or not
a store can open in their area, and that means
that from region to region it can be quite different
on a good Friday and Easter Sunday. And I guess
(01:34):
there's a couple of things about it. One is that
people often say, well, you know, what about family time
and what about workers having a day off? And workers
have the right to say I don't want to work
on each Sunday and their employer can't make them do that.
We fully support that right for workers to have that,
But what we do say in times like now, there's
(01:56):
a lot of young people that we can retail, and
lots of people that don't earn big sums of money,
and many people might be quite happy to earn time
and a half and have a day and low so
that they could take the day off at a time
when it suits them and their family. You know, mom,
dad and two kids at home is not the family
that we had thirty five years ago. Not everybody has
(02:21):
that sort of environment, and it might be that having
a day off to go to one of your children's recitals,
or to a sports event, or just taking time out
for yourself might be the better way to fulfill the
family needs rather than necessarily everyone's spending the day at
home on Easter Sunday. That doesn't necessarily mean that everyone's
(02:43):
going to spend time together.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Carolyn, do you know how many retailers want to be
open on days like Good Friday, Andy's to Sunday.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, two thirds of the people of ants that are
survey indicated that they would like the choice. And so
I think the thing about that is that we know
that not every store in every area is interested in opening.
And as an example, I grew up in mass Now
the stores in masses And highly likely wouldn't open on
Easter Sunday, But fifteen twenty k's down the road in Greytown,
(03:16):
the stores would probably open because Greytown is a destination
that people drive to, they'll take the weekend away, they'll
go and spend time there, and it's a place that
would have a thriving hub where people would want to
go to. So it's the horses for Courses scenario, and
it's one of those things where not everybody has to open,
but retailers want the choice to be able to open
(03:39):
and instead of having just online shopping, they want the
choice where people can come into their store.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Is it a huge amount of work for a council
to survey it's businesses to work this out. Do you
think to get a feel for what the community wants.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Well, I don't know that they get a feel for
what the community wants. I think they just make a
decision on what they think. So what we know is
that if you're in a in a more of an
international tourist area like the Latu or Topo or Queenstown,
those councils had provided exemptions for their businesses to open,
(04:18):
but if you're elsewhere in the country, in many places,
they are not. So you know, I think it's not
necessarily needs to be a council decision, but just for
the stores to have the ability to open should they
wish to do.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Is there too much confusion or unfeness around what can
open and what count.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well, it is super confusing, isn't it Easter? Because the
thing is is that the actual public holidays are Good
Friday and Easter Monday. Easter Sunday is not a public holiday,
and yet the stores are closed. The retail stores are
closed on Easter Sunday, so it's really confusing from that
perspective in the first instance. So it's the same thing
(05:02):
with hospitality, where you can go out and buy a
meal or go to a cafe, but you shouldn't be
paying a surd charge on Easter Sunday. So it is
quite confusing because everybody feels that Easter Sunday is the
holiday because you know, a highly Christian religious event, but
(05:22):
actually Easter Monday is the holiday. So it is really confusing.
And the stores can open on the Monday, but the
can open on the Monday, and then.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
It's confusing if you're a young worker and you're not
entirely sure what your entitlements are and things. How are
retailers reacting to potential changes to the Holiday Act to
kind of simplify all this of it.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, well, the Holidays Act doesn't really influence Easter trading,
but we know that Minister then Valden is looking at
pro writering sickly and changing your annual holidays so that
they start to recrue on an hourly basis from the
day that you start. So the sick cleve entitlement is
(06:02):
a complicated one because at the moment, if you work
part time, you're entitled to ten days sickly. So if
you were and in retail, there's lots of part time workers,
So if you were one day weeks and you can
take ten days sickly, which would be ten weeks, and
you'd have your four weeks leave, so you'd only work
thirty eight weeks of the fifty two weeks that are allocated.
(06:26):
So we don't feel that that's fair, and so a
pro rated sicklyave is actually a much more accurate way
for people to be able to be taking sickleave in
the first place. So you know, if you work one
day a week, you'd be entitled to when a normal
work week is five days, you'd be entitled to twenty
(06:46):
percent of the sicklave.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Carolyn, how much do businesses benefit from being able to
make their own decision as to whether they open over Easter?
You know how much they financially benefit, because to be honest,
I would suspect that they experience a boom and sales
around these days of closure. Anyway, it seems like every
man in his wife is out shopping to prepare for
the one day that they can't hit out. It does
(07:10):
already feel like it's a very busy time and people
are doing well throughout Easter.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yes, So you know what we do now is when
there's holidays like this where we've got a long weekend
of four days, there's more people out about. People are
in that holiday mode and they may have traveled away
from home and are more likely to spend money. Now
in this sort of economy, when it's been really tough
for retailers and we're seeing stores, you know, they having
(07:36):
downward trend and sales year on year. You know, just
to have a couple of days where you've got a
four day weekend and you've got people in your story
every day and they're willing to spend and are spending
is really helpful.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Carolyn Young, thanks so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Karen Young is the chief executive of Retail New Zealand,
and thank you very much for your text. You might
ast Welcome to Texas Morning. On ninety two and ninety two.
One text reads Easter Sunday is not a public holiday. However,
I work in a bottle store and it's and I
don't get paid because of that. Somebody else said morning.
One thing that many people don't know about Easter Sundays.
You don't get time and a half if you have
to work. I worked many years in a hotel and
(08:16):
it's just normal payday. It probably relates to laws made
when hardly anyone worked on a Sunday. I think you're
probably right about that mail. So the thing is that
everyone wins and loses. It depends what kind of business
you work in, where you're working, what kind of job
you have. You know, that's the thing. It's sort of
while it can be amazing for one person. And I
had a lovely text from Kathy who said she had
(08:37):
time at the beach on a public holiday and had
the pleasure of seeing a rainbow and it was wonderful.
For other people, they're missing out on pay that they
thought that they were going to get. Text here reads
we don't have outdated laws. Just go to Europe Farm
or occasions when shops are closed holand for example, outside
the tourist area's shops are closed every Sunday morning. And
I totally get that right. And look, if you're not
a tourist spot, you should absolutely be able to close
(08:59):
and have the day off. But if you are a
spot where your business really benefits from it, shouldn't you
be able to decide your local cancer will be able
to decide whether you do open or not. And finally
here Francisca Carolyn Young's organization is driven by desperation and greed.
If people need stuff, they will still bar it when
the shops open again. How has our society become so
useless that people can't last without the odd day that
(09:20):
shops aren't open. Let shop workers have a couple of
guaranteed days off. Thank you for the text you can
keep them coming ninety two ninety two.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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