Why do most shops open 9 till 5

[chaparral]

Maybe i wrong on this but i always thought if i owned a shop i open something like 2pm till 9pm as most people can't get to shops that open 9 till 5 as there working

Maybe this is one the reasons why supermarkets do so well as just about all of them open till around 8pm or 9pm

So why does most shops open 8am or 9am till 5pm (or 5.30pm) ?

 

[Raymond Lin]

Tradition, most Asian countries open from 11am to 8-10pm. Except food places that opens for breakfast.

 

[chaparral]

Tradition,

I wouldn't be surprised if this is one the big reasons why there dying as people like myself that work 7am till 6pm have no choice but to order most are stuff off the internet as shops are close outside are working hours

Maybe am wrong but ain't there far more people that work 8am or 9am till 5pm then any other time

 

[Randomface74]

Women used to do the shopping during the day, but now they're at work too and nothing adjusted.

 

[theone8181]

Tbh I wish they'd treat Sunday as a normal day, and banks could do to open at regular times. Our current Santander is open mon to Fri 10-3 which is absolutely useful for 90% of people.

 

[Efour]

Women used to do the shopping during the day, but now they're at work too and nothing adjusted.

This. Half of the population tended to stay at home and do the housework and fetch shopping.

Most larger retail stores do stay open later in urban areas......

There are strict laws governing opening hours in residential/commercial mixed area.

Shops are so 20th century.....

 

[adolf hamster]

Tradition

nail, meet hammer

it made sense back in the days of what you would call the "traditional family unit" ie husband out at work, wife at home looking after household/shopping/kids.

as has been mentioned with both genders in 9-5 employment it makes sense that purely logistically folk are moving to ordering online out of necessity/convenience, hence killing off the high street.

it's tricky, because this shift also means moving from things like getting your food local and fresh, for example getting a loaf from the baker every couple of days, to one where food gets stuffed with preservatives to make it last for at least a week as at best folk can do a shopping run once weekly if trying to fit it round a 9-5 working pattern.

not to mention, the employees of shops want to work the conventional 9-5 week rather than having to take on odd shift patterns.

 

[Fusion]

The 5/6pm close time is a joke and highly antiquated. Sunday trading hours are worse. Bit irrelevant when you can order just about anything online outside of the UK Sunday trading hours.

 

[Begbie]

I've always thought this, but then also thought all these companies have done their research enough that I'm clearly very wrong.

Imagine losing the high street, because 'it's the way it is' so very British.

 

[Vanquish-Storm]

Had this same conversation this week and have done in the past. Went to a shopping centre after work in the week and found it has shut earlier than normal (Covid?) But even normal closing times it's a rush to get to after work

Slightly off topic the NHS opening times for shopping wound me up too haha, 9am-10am when the majority of NHS workers will be ... Well in work.

 

[Russinating]

Whilst it's tradition, it's also a difficult one to break.

Would you want to work 5-9pm? Basically antisocial hours because of the hours themselves. If you do, you'd want to be paid more, and so then it's a weigh up of cost vs benefit.

The only reason our B2B company operates 9-5 is because our clients work 9-5. If everyone changed then we could work any given hours.

 

[weringo]

In central London a lot of shops stay open until late presumably to allow people to shop after work. Not sure why the rest of the country hasn't caught up.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

I started a similar debate on here, maybe 2 years ago, asking why did everything had to start at 9AM? Schools, 9-5 workplaces and shops, cafés etc. Cue the gridlock before 9AM. The covid lockdown has solved a bit of this problem with people still home-working but I still think that 9-5 workers should be staggered, some starting at 8AM and others finishing at 6PM. Also, part-time is more common now than it was in the 90s and that can be staggered too. I work a 6-hour day and have 7 colleagues, most with 6-hour days too and our work patterns are staggered.

I also agree with the OP about shops, so I propose this:

Shops - 2PM to 9PM (or 10PM) as per OP
Schools - keep them at 9AM
9-5 workers - stagger from 8AM to 6PM, part-timers working 6 hours and full-timers working 7 or 8 hours

For those who are retired or on holiday, why the hell would you want to be up at sparrow's fart to be in town for 9AM? Allow the workers to get to work first and the kids into school, then those with free time can swan into town after everyone is in work/school. The pubs can still open at 11AM as usual

 

[Semple]

Maybe i wrong on this but i always thought if i owned a shop i open something like 2pm till 9pm as most people can't get to shops that open 9 till 5 as there working

Maybe this is one the reasons why supermarkets do so well as just about all of them open till around 8pm or 9pm

So why does most shops open 8am or 9am till 5pm (or 5.30pm) ?

I don't actually see many shops open from 9-5 anymore. If I go to places like the Trafford Centre, a lot of their shops are open from 9:00 till 21:00/22:00.

Tbh I wish they'd treat Sunday as a normal day, and banks could do to open at regular times. Our current Santander is open mon to Fri 10-3 which is absolutely useful for 90% of people.

Yeah Sunday trading hours is long overdue to be abolished. I know there's the "traditional" aspect to it, but it has no place in a modern society.

 

[Surveyor]

Yeah Sunday trading hours is long overdue to be abolished. I know there's the "traditional" aspect to it, but it has no place in a modern society.

Would you like to go back to the situation pre 1994 when Sunday trading wasn't generally permitted?

 

[ianh]

Women used to do the shopping during the day, but now they're at work too and nothing adjusted.

Yeap, it's only been 40+ years since it became "common" for women to work during the day rather than be purely housewives yet shops haven't really adjusted to accept this new norm in wholesale numbers yet, although "late night" shopping is becoming more popular now, with some areas staying open til 8pm etc.

All it really does is make "relaxing" weekends more stress-filled as we now cram the weekly shopping into the two days that we were already busy with DIY, Kids/Family & Hobbies etc.

 

[Werewolf]

Why do I suspect that many of those who want longer opening hours for normal retail either have never worked in retail, or don't have kids

I suspect you'd have some trouble getting staffing for normal shops to be open much longer, and you'd also see a lot of push back from people who live near them when they realise that far from being "handy" having say the highstreet open later, it would instead mean a lot more noise during the evenings.

 

[d_brennen]

Would you like to go back to the situation pre 1994 when Sunday trading wasn't generally permitted?

And half day Wednesday

Tbh I can't remember the last time I went into a bank and I do 99% of my non food shopping online. I actually enjoy supermarket shopping at midnight too, the high street has no appeal

 

[Rids]

I suspect with the high street effectively dying on its ass for the last 10 years we may see more of a shift towards longer opening hours. Not great for retail employees but the high street is going to need to change if its going to compete.

 

[Rroff]

Lot of people quickly shop on their way into work in the morning and you get plenty of older people, still a lot of parents, unemployed, etc. during the day. Not something I'm really an expert on but the shops that open later generally seem to be pretty dead around 7pm onwards other than supermarkets - as I often work nights I'll pop in to do some shopping sometimes around 8pm before work and sometimes I'm the only customer they've seen in like 20 minutes, etc. (will depend a lot place to place though). Even these days I just don't think the demand is there for many places to adjust to later opening. Many people I guess either go to the supermarket, shop online or go in during the day on their day(s) off.