Shopping revolution embraced

Plans to relax opening hours to breath new life into the retail sector are gathering momentum.

Chamber of Commerce bosses will meet with a Senior Government Policy Analyst later this month to discuss the new proposals put forward by the Chamber.

Chamber executive director, Joanne MacPhee, told the Sun she had been greatly encouraged by the response to the idea — which was first reported by the Sun on Friday.

She said: “We are working with Government on this now and they seem very responsive.

“It is very much a Chamber-driven initiative and we will be leading the surveys to get feedback from shoppers and store owners.

“But the fact that we have been able to secure a meeting with a Senior Government Policy Advisor is very encouraging.

“We will be meeting with the advisor on May 22 to discuss the idea further.

“But there is obviously still a long way to go with this.”

Lobbying

The Bermuda Chamber of Commerce is lobbying Government to change the law, which dates from 1947.

The proposals would allow stores to open whenever they want, including Sundays, based on the market need.

Ms MacPhee said that although she expected there to be some resistance from some quarters she had not received any negative comments about the initiative.

She added: “Traditionally the most resistance to these sort of changes has come from the Church groups.

‘Well done’

“But to date we have not received a response from any of them.

“I would say the response has been overwhelmingly positive with people writing to us saying things like ‘well done’ and ‘it’s about time’.

“Others who I work with on the Tourism Board have described it as a step in the right direction for tourism too.

“Our plan is to meet with the policy advisor later this month and then go to store owners and shoppers and ask them for feedback.

“It’s important that we survey them before we move further forward with this.”