Major UK food retailers are keen to push the government to relax Sunday trading laws as part of their bid to continue feeding the nation during the coronavirus pandemic.
Retail Week understands UK grocers are effectively split on the issue of relaxing Sunday trading laws – which currently only allow retailers that operate stores larger than 3,000 sq ft to open between 10am and 6pm.
One source with understanding of the discussions said: “It’s effectively split down the middle between those big grocers who operate large supermarkets and the smaller ones whose stores are already exempt from Sunday trading laws”.
Food retailers that operate large supermarkets have argued the laws should be relaxed as in-store social distancing measures make it impossible to safely process normal customer volumes on Sundays and large queues have been forming outside shops.
However, several convenience store and independent chains have argued against the measure, arguing it would unfairly impinge on their sales.
UK grocers are in regular contact with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) secretary George Eustice.
The government has made moves in recent weeks to allow for greater collaboration between the grocers to allow them to better feed the nation as the coronavirus epidemic continues – including allowing supermarkets to share stock level data and sharing distribution depots and vans to aid with online deliveries to the vulnerable and people who are self-isolating.
While Defra has been considering relaxing Sunday trading laws, it has still yet to make that decision.
However, Retail Week understands some councils – which enforce Sunday trading rules – have already relaxed the laws, including Belfast City Council, which made the decision yesterday.
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