Customers window-shopping

Some retailers may opted to kickstart the festive season sooner by operating extended hours from the beginning of November, but Christmas has not come early business communities have told The Sunday Times.

Despite some businesses opening on Sundays from early November, they say customers are mostly window-shopping for now.

Under a legal notice issued by the Trade Department, shops are allowed to open between 4 a.m. and 10 p.m. on weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays between November 1 and January 7. The Finance Ministry said it was difficult to find out how many took the opportunity because no applications with authorities were necessary.

Shops traditionally began Sunday trading in the run-up to Christmas around the first weekend of December. But this year, Sliema’s The Point, Malta’s largest shopping mall, opened its doors on November 7 to herald the season and 13,000 people turned up.

General manager Edwin Borg said similar numbers follow suit on the next two Sundays.

“The Point is still in its honeymoon period and we wanted to encourage people to come over. Many people were first-time visitors to The Point,” Mr Borg explained.

“Our Facebook page was also inundated with messages urging us to open on Sundays, so the decision was also taken in response to customer demand.”

Mr Borg added tenants at The Point, which is now operating to full capacity after opening in March, were satisfied with the Sunday turnout but conceded that Christmas activity was still in the “run-up” stage. The management would take a view of what effect Sundays had had on the rest of the week.

On November 13, the Sliema Business Community sent text messages to mobile phone subscribers to announce ‘Sliema opens on Sundays’ and that all shops on The Strand and in Tower Road, High Street, Manwel Dimech Street and Bisazza Street would be open.

The Sliema Business Community’s Christine Pace agreed shops had begun Sunday tradingearlier this year, particularly as competition had increased drastically in recent months and businesses were keen to maximise Christmas trading. The decision was very obviously a reaction to difficult trading times and retailers could not afford to miss out on the seasonal business, she said.

A retailer operating in bothValletta and Sliema told TheSunday Times opening on Sundays so early in the season made no financial sense, as it meant double wages, longer hours for staff, and often translated into sales ‘stolen’ from another trading day.

Ms Pace also agreed: “It is not about selling on Sunday. It is very unlikely that one would increase sales by adding on Sunday long term. It is about being there for your customers as they think of shopping for Christmas.”

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech ceremoniously switched on the Christmas decorations in Republic Street last week but the capital’s high street will only kick offSunday trading on December 5.

Jeweller Paul Fenech, president of the street’s business community association, was also against starting Christmas extended hours early, although his chain’s Sliema stores have opened on Sundays.

“The season has not started,” he insisted. “It makes no sense: all that happens now is that Sunday trading shifts commerce from one day to another. Besides, opening on Sundays costs money and it is unfair on staff. Customers are served well six days a week. They will also be served well when the demand increases as it usually does on the first December weekend. If the trading calendar is not observed, we will only end up with a time war.”

Issues like access to the capital and parking facilities for greater numbers of shoppers are being discussed, he added.

In the meantime, shoppers able to find a space for their cars inValletta will not be subject to the controlled vehicular access fee after 3 p.m. throughout December, the Valletta Business Community Committee announced on November 19.

Formalwear retailer Franco Bajada began to open his Sliema shop on November 13 and said that although he believed it was too early and “a sacrifice”, it was nice to see the traffic and the window-shoppers. Mr Bajada opens his Valletta shop in Merchants Street on Sundays from today.

Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario de Marco switched on the Christmas lights in Merchants Street yesterday and all shops will operate extended hours every day until Boxing Day.

The Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU) said most of its members could not cope with extended hours as they were all owner-managed. Director-general Vince Farrugia said the stress on them and their families to keep up with the competition of the major shopping alleys was in most cases unbearable.

“The vast majority of independent retailers believe November 1 is too early,” he added. “The tendency right across Europe is to kick off the Christmas season as early as possible. Retailers have mixed views on this, but shopping arcades and department stores are making a big push everywhere using consumer associations to press for more liberalisation. Retailers associations everywhere are being made to look archaic if they oppose this trend as we appear to want to extend the past to the present.”

Mr Farrugia pointed out that the time when businesses used to call on authorities to respond to support restrictive practices was fast receding. There must be logic behind demands, he stressed.

When some time ago the GRTU proposed that the odd public holiday coinciding with an important weekend be open for shopping, the government objected and brought forth all the old arguments, Mr Farrugia said.

“Now Malta declares that the Christmas season starts on November 1 and we are expected to believe that this was done because there was a demand by the majority of retailers. This adds to government’s major problem – credibility,” he said.