Perth's Extended Trading Hours
Due to regulations on trading hours, shops in Perth have long shut their doors at 5pm. This has now changed, as of yesterday, shops are allowed to stay open to 9pm on weeknights. Most people welcome the change as an opportunity, finally, to shop at more 'convenient' times. The government sees it as "keep[ing] pace with changes in urban lifestyles and working hours in the Perth metropolitan area."
I don't buy it. (Pun intended.) Why are extended shopping hours seen as "progress"? Since when is giving big businesses more opportunities to earn our money and line the pockets of their grossly overpaid CEOs "progress"? (It hurts small businesses which cannot afford to pay staff to stay open late because of insufficient traffic. Guess where consumers will decide where to shop instead? But that's a separate argument. See this news story for a different perspective: Perth's big shopping flop as extended trading begins)
I love that shops closed at 5pm in Perth! It is one of the things that makes this city distinctive, unique, special; and prevents it from becoming a nondescript every-other-city. Even when I was working full-time, I found the time to get what I needed between late night shopping in the city on Fridays and suburbs on Thursdays. I liked that the closed shops meant that I spent my nights on relational rather than consumer focused activities. And not that open shops will change my habits but it will have a flow-on cultural effect.
Mostly, I think that it's sad that we've become like all the other big cities.
Image of shopper from here