LATE SHOPPING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22583, 23 November 1936, Page 10

LATE SHOPPING

RUSH ON SATURDAY EFFECT OF THE HOLIDAY SHOPKEEPERS' DIFFICULTIES One effect of the development of the Saturday holiday has been to induce late shopping on Saturday mornings to a degree that is beginning to cause many classes of shopkeepers difficulties and embarrassment. -The spread of Saturday morning shopping appears to bo uneven over Auckland, but some parts of the city are undoubtedly getting more business than ever they did before. Apparently late breakfasts are becoming the rule in houses where the breadwinner no longer has to worry about leaving early on Saturday morning for business. At any rate, this is ascribed as the reason why many housewives who often started the Saturday morning shopping about 9 a.m. now often arrive in the city about 11 or 11..'30 for • the purpose. Shopkeepers also say that many women are shopping on Saturday morning who did not do so before, this being possibly due to the fact that their husbands can now look after the children at home. Among suburban shops, it is largely grocers and butchers who are finding shopping being done on Saturday morning much later than usual, while more classes of business seem to be experiencing the late morning rush in the city. Butchers are being caused particular inconvenience. At noon they must close their shops and often at this stage the premises are crowded with customers. Under the Shops and Offices Act, assistants are required to be off the premises by 12.15 p.m., so that before the necessary cleaning up can bo done after noon, it is often necessary to dispose of a shop full of customers. Once customers have gone, meat has to be packed in the refrigerator, scraps removed, utensils cleaned and the shop swept, and cleaned, for hygcnic conditions must rule in the week-end. To do all these things within 15 minutes generally involves a hectic rush. Under the award it is necessary for the employer to pay overtime for the period the worker is on the premises after noon, , and ho has also to make a time allowance, so that a crowded shop at noon may actually mean a financial loss to him.