A GROUP of local small business owners are fighting to keep Mandurah’s current trading hours and are opposing permanent Sunday trade.
The City of Mandurah is currently gauging community and retailers’ support for year-round retail trading from 8am to 6pm on Monday to Wednesday and Friday, 8am to 9pm on Thursday, 8am to 5pm on Saturday and 10am to 3pm on Sunday with all public holidays being 10am to 5pm.
Currently seven-day trading in Mandurah is permitted during summer from December to April and during school and public holidays.
Matthew Milner from family owned business Farmer Jack’s in Halls Head said many small businesses wanted trading arrangements to remain the same.
Small traders operate under a general exemption in the Retail Trading Hours Act which allows them to open 24 hours, seven days a week.
They are restricted to 13 staff on the floor at any one time, but if Sunday trading goes ahead the big supermarkets will have no restrictions.
Mr Milner, the spokesman for the Mandurah Retail Trading Hours Alliance, said if year-round Sunday trading was introduced it would give a bigger market share to the major supermarkets and retailers.
While supportive of Sunday trading over Mandurah’s tourism-heavy summer and long weekends, Mr Milner said Sunday trade over winter would reduce small business’ ability to compete with big business and would not allow small, independent grocers and other stores to survive.
“During the winter Sunday trade allows small business to build up reserves and allows us to compete with the bigger companies,” Mr Milner said.
The Alliance has compiled a Get the Facts booklet to provide more information about retail trading hours.
The booklet cites a survey by independent company Research Solutions in which 480 small retailers in major regional centres in the southern half of WA were surveyed.
The research revealed up to 74 percent of retailers rejected proposals to deregulate Sunday trading.
The majority of retailers said if Sunday trading went ahead they would not open their doors due to increased competition from major retailers, higher stress levels and hours of work and decreases in profits.
Mr Milner, with the support of Barry Warwick from Greenfields Liquor and Deli, Lance Brown of Falcon IGA and Sue Sanderson from Halls Head Newsagency, has formed a petition to stop year-round Sunday trading.
It has close to 400 signatures.
He said the proposal to change the trading hours would not only affect small supermarkets, but delis and a big range of specialty shops.
Mr Brown said small businesses would be forced to open on Sundays and shop owners and sole traders with families would have to work themselves to keep the cost of wages down.
He said this would take time away from family life and put more pressure on small business owners.
The group said there was no need to have permanent Sunday trading as there were less tourists during winter and the shops were not busy enough on Sundays.
“We are not against progress in Mandurah, but tourists don’t come to shop at supermarkets and this whole proposal is for tourists,” Mr Milner said.
Mr Brown said Sunday trade meant small business would suffer and could have an impact on the local companies supporting local clubs and organisations.
“IGA supports local football in Falcon and this could have an impact on our sponsorships,” Mr Brown said.
Mandurah City deputy mayor Darren Lee met with the small retailers last week to hear their concerns.
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