Confused about Australia...and I live here
 

People do visit Western Australia and are directly affected by this topic, so I hope this thread passes muster as being travel related .

Western Australia has finally decided to catch up with the rest of the world and extend retail trading hours. Currently, most shops close at 5 pm and are closed all day on Sundays. I've always thought this was bizarre in a city the size of Perth, and I can't tell you the grief it caused when we were trying to buy a car, but so it goes.

There are a few exceptions - small towns have seven day a week IGAs that remain open as late as 7 pm, and shops in Perth generally remain open until 9 pm one day a week. And for some mysterious reason, Bunnings is allowed to remain open 7 days a week and well past 5 pm.

I've lived in Perth almost two years and I still don't understand the rationale behind this odd arrangement. I've been following it in the media, but I'm still baffled. It seems the people of WA want extended hours, yet the government has been hemming and hawing over this for years. Why pray tell, is the government even involved?

I'm hoping some of our resident Aussies can clear this up for me.

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/retai...appointed.html

There are pros and cons with extended trading in a country that does not have a large "economy of scale" so to speak and although I enjoy shopping whenever I want, be it 8.30 at night or on a Sunday ( which is about 1% of my shopping time during the year anyway) I do think that it only helps the large chain stores and Department stores. No small trader can hope to employ people over that length of time i.e 84 - 100 per week nor can they do it themselves. There is only one pie and that pie can only be cut into so many pieces so it makes no sense to me that increasing shopping hours makes people spend more. The department stores can keep open because they have fewer people who actually work in terms of staff per Sq mtr.
Further in Shopping Centres the large department stores and the Chain stores get very, very reduced floor space rental costs so its the "little person" who actually keeps them in business. I would prefer to shop when everyone is open and at least give the small trader a fair go or shop when everyone is open.
I cannot see what 9 - 5 trading hours has got to do with having trouble buying a car - most people had been doing that for years before extended trading and what is wrong with Saturday mornings?

I see where you're coming from, but...

I shop where I shop. Where I shop and what I buy is unlikely to change if shops stay open later. For me, it's about convenience.

I personally think closing at 5 pm encourages people to shop during work hours, taking time away from their jobs.

Has extended shopping hours in other Australian states adversely affected small businesses?

I wasn't aware that Western Australia had held out so long. It hasn't been that many years since the whole of Australia ran to the same rules. A combination of cultual factors, I think. Australia has always been been a more unionised country than the US, and traditionally we've tended to place a high value on our leisure time, especially weekends.

But the nature of the workplace has changed. Union membership went through a long period of decline, although it began to revive in the dying days of the previous conservative, a response to its plans to further deregulate the labour market.

Job security is less than it was, and casual/part-time jobs have grown at the expense of secure, full-time jobs. Old trade protection regulations have been swept aside and we're much more exposed to international competition.

Add to this the relentless pressure on young people to spend up on big houses, flash new cars, foreign travel and a plethora of electronic gizmos and you have a climate ripe for placing money (e.g. overtime and after-hours penalty rates) above the traditionally sacrosanct weekend.

These trends aren't unique to Australia of course, but it seems that they've had less effect on remote WA.

"Has extended shopping hours in other Australian states adversely affected small businesses?"

The growth of the big supermarket, hardware etc. chains have certainly affected small businesses, not sure what effect longer shopping hours may have had.

Many new businesses have emerged in response to changing spending patterns - cafes and restaurants being the most obvious.

WA seems to march to the beat of a different drummer Neil. As far as I know, it's the only state in OZ to do away with daylight savings time too.

I'm all for supporting small businesses. I actually seek out family owned/operated businesses when I visit the US, but I also believe in competition.

There's a greengrocer in my neighborhood that I frequent because they're open seven days a week and they're convenient. They're certainly not going to lose my business just because a larger shop extends its hours.

Well, Mel I'm certainly not an expert but I think a business such as Bunnings would not be covered by the Retail Shops Lease Act. I think you'll find that there are a variety of Government Acts in place that cover various situations.

Queensland was very reluctant to introduce 7 days a week trading as well. I remember a lot of discussion and debate at the time. Obviously, the smaller traders were very concerned, probably rightly so. I think quite a few suffered.

Most major shopping centres today will have a clause in the lease stating that you must trade 7 days.

Personally, I can live without it - I very rarely shop on a Sunday and I think it takes away from family time. But that's just me.

Queensland does not have daylight saving either Mel however, we never ditched it because we never took it on in the first place. It's been the topic of major debate here in the last six months. I don't believe we'll ever see it here.

The Daylight Saving thing doesn't matter quite so much in Qld, but it's a real PIA for those of us in other States trying to do business with WA, when there's 3 hours difference in time in Summer. Instead of the normal 2 hours.

FWIW, I don't think we'll ever see it in Qld either, Stormbird. For those living near the NSW/Qld border, it probably is more of a nuisance than for the rest of us. Would you vote for / against it?

WA seems to have a succession mentality, Melnq8 - and anything the "Eastern States" do is automatically anathema to the good old boys of Harvest Tce.

I remember when NSW shops closed at noon on Saturday, and it was a pain, but we lived with it. Personally, I like being able to shop 7 days, but don't see the need for some of the major chains to stay open until 6pm or later on weekends. .

Unfortunately, the small traders in shopping centres are compelled to stay open, as Stormbird says. Some of the "high street" shops in my area do close on Sundays and or other days of the week, quite often Mondays.

As to staff in the Department stores; I was in David Jones at Warringah Mall (big shopping centre, northern beaches, Sydney) on Tuesday afternoon around 3pm. ONE person rostered on for the whole Electrical Department, and none visible in that side of the floor in cookware/crockery. It's the last week of the June Sales! Apparently, DJ's are cutting rosters, both by shortening hours and reducing workers. Everyone else in the electrical department was rostered off after, I think, 2:30pm! Similar story in other stores; where once there would be someone at all the "Pay Here" stations, quite often it's a matter of straggling around the store, looking for someone to ring up a purchase. God help you if you actually want product assistance. Now, it might be thought DJ's is trying to finance the $mm exit payout of its recently departed sleezy MD, and the probable legal case - but this is a trend that's been growing for the last year or more, and not limited to any one brand or product.

stormbird, hi, - was there a daylight saving trial in Queensland about 20 years ago? I lived in Sydney then. Not having summer daylight saving in southern Qld and around NSW/Qld border must drive people there nuts, its not so bad up here in Cairns with different weather conditions.

Same here in Myers in Cairns, Bokhara, not a soul to be seen in electrical and cookware department, even in the middle of the winter sales. Target not much better, and these are the two largest stores in town.

WA does have a secession mentality - they actually voted to secede from the Commonwealth in (I think) 1930. The subsequent petition was sent to Buckingham Palace, which having no power to grant or deny it forwarded it to Canberra. The federal government told the Sandgropers to stop being so silly and the whole thing was filed.

Melbourne department stores didn't appear to have the same staffing issues when I was there in May.

I live 15 kms from the CBD melbourne yet the only stores open at weekends are the supermarkets and the ones in Shopping centres/ or super stores like Bunnings. No strip shops or High street ones open and that is common.
As Bill Bryson once remarked the reason why he moved back to US is so that his wife could shop 24 hours a day

Bokhara2-constant complaints at our local Myer about where are the staff? and even from the staff