Introduction
Closing department stores on Sundays has been controversial worldwide for many years. Nonetheless, it is evident to me that Sunday shopping restrictions have a lot of underestimated advantages. One day a week, non-working department stores allow employees to have a full day of rest, spend it with family, and defend cultural and religious values if the worker is Christian. Besides, such a solution protects small and medium-sized companies and leads to other positive consequences.
Protection of Workers
The main argument supporting closing department stores on Sundays is workers’ protection. Every employee deserves to have a whole day’s rest, “the right to stay with the family” (Passaro et al., 2020, p. 467). Considering Christianity, Sunday is a day that should be devoted to religious and traditional activities, a day of peace and retreat from intense weekly activities. On this day, family members should enjoy each other without spending time working or shopping.
Accompanying Benefits
There are additional significant advantages of department stores’ closure on Sundays. Firstly, prohibited Sunday openings protect small and medium-sized enterprises against competition. Otherwise, large department stores can work 24/7 and monopolize the sector. Another benefit highlighted by the study of Janssen et al. (2018): is the simulation analysis, which predicted that “the inclusion of closing days” results in the reduction of “the waste of perishable goods” (p. 15). An indirect consequence of Sunday shopping restrictions is lowered alcohol consumption, which reduces alcohol-related crimes, homicides, and injuries (Sanchez-Ramirez & Voaklander, 2018). Thus, closing department stores on Sunday implies a number of significant advantages.
Conclusion
Department stores should be closed on Sundays since it gives people the opportunity to rest, get together with friends and family, or spend time on religious traditions. Avoiding Sunday working and shopping allows people to focus on individual values and needs. In addition to personal advantages, there are also economic and social benefits of such a decision: reducing unequal competition, alcohol-related events, and the amount of stores’ waste.
References
Janssen, L., Sauer, J., Claus, T., & Nehls, U. (2018). Development and simulation analysis of a new perishable inventory model with a closing days constraint under non-stationary stochastic demand. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 118, 9-22. Web.
Passaro, P., Perchinunno, P., & Schirone, D. (2020). Sunday consumer behavior: A case study in retail marketing. African Journal of Business Management, 14(11), 467-477. Web.
Sanchez-Ramirez, D. C., & Voaklander, D. (2018). The impact of policies regulating alcohol trading hours and days on specific alcohol-related harms: a systematic review. Injury prevention, 24(1), 94-100. Web.