Sunday shopping and why being different is good

Chris Britcher

Tuesday, August 28, 2012
9:28 AM



Is there a real need to make us shop til we drop on our day of rest?

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When Sky TV was plotting its strategy to promote the Premier League all those years ago, it identified the two slowest days of the week on which to inject a little football razzmatazz.

Monday night was traditionally a dead evening; pubs suffered the post weekend blues, and it was ripe for the picking.

But more obvious than that was Sunday afternoon.

When the Premier League began in 1992, Sundays were – as Tony Hancock once so accurately portrayed – a day where you could become an expert at thumb-twiddling.

Shops were shut, pubs were often closed during the day, TV was uninspiring, and it was universally acknowledged as a day you spent with your nearest and dearest.

Sundays were, without doubt, special in their place in the week. Society all took a day off, the roads were quiet, the high streets empty, and everyone caught their breath before plunging head first into Monday.

Little wonder, then, that the prospect of some top quality live football played so well with the masses; that it prompted so many to splash out on a subscription to a TV service. A small price to pay to avoid, yikes, talking to one another or visiting the in-laws.

But, since then, Sundays have changed beyond all recognition. Just two years after the Premier League appeared, the doors of shops up and down the country swung open and we quickly realised that it was marginally less busy to go on a Sunday to hit the high streets than a Saturday.

And as soon as the shops open, then Sunday becomes pretty much like any other day. Sure, the banks were shut, but a weekend is rarely a success by virtue of queuing to see a cashier. Unless, I suppose, you’re cashing in a lottery-winning cheque.

Sundays were still a little different – after all, you could have a bit of a lay-in as the shops didn’t open until 10am and by 4pm you were off home again. Conveniently for Sky, just in time to catch the kick-off of the afternoon game.

Today, though, there are plans afoot to change it even more. The expanded opening hours introduced during the Olympic Games (the only reason I can work out is that when watching so much sport on the TV many experienced an enormous craving for cakes and chocolate to replenish sugar levels on behalf of the athletes competing) now look likely to be here to stay.

To the surprise of almost no-one.

The reality, is that we’re so used to Sundays being shopping days now, extending the hours will make little impact on society.

But it does just mean the one and only day that was a bit different to the rest of the week becomes just like all the rest.

And in a world where things being a bit different tend to be frowned upon and then ironed out, that would be a real shame.

After all, Sundays should be all about putting your feet up, reading your copy of Kent on Sunday, and then taking it easy


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