Unhappy Shopper…

This might sound like a silly question and I guess it is, but whilst sat here wondering about stuff I don’t think anyone even cares about it occurred to me that most shops are open all day, closing between 17:00 and 17:30 each night. My question is why??

After some brief musing it does seem quite illogical really. Surely the target audience for shops is those with an money and preferably an income, the white whale of these being young professionals with no dependents bring with them that awesome treasure trove the retail lords know as “disposable income”.

As the name implies, this most bountiful of quarries have jobs, usually reasonably well paying jobs that require nine to five attendance at some form of office or singular location. This very fact means that they are almost certainly not available to peruse for their next purchase during the hours the retail outlets deem they should be open. Where is the logic in this??

Surely it follows that the majority of people any shop would play host to during week days are those of either the unemployed or too old to be employed. The later have earned the right to spend money on whatever they want but generally have little motivation to spend and the former shouldn’t really be encouraged to spend their money on consumer goods, by having the sotres open whilst they have little to do.

I can see why shops would open during such hours on weekends, as that time slot would likely be the most preferable for those wanting to fulfil their economic responsibility as a consumer. However, even this is curtailed by Sunday trading regulations. I happen to agree with Sunday trading being restricted, but it would be remiss of me not to mention it, as it does seem to exacerbate the situation we find ourselves in.

In any case, would it not be better to simply open at 14:00 and close about 22:00 throughout the week??

Thank you. This has been my plan for saving the failing economy. I am Adrian Cooper and I am your next Prime Minister of these United Kingdoms of Great Britain…

Tags: consumer, disposable income, economic plan, logic, opening hours, retail, shopping