Garden centre bosses lose thousands by closing on Sundays

2:23pm Monday 9th July 2007

By Andy Dickenson

A garden centre has shocked customers by deciding not to open on Sundays - for the sake of its staff and their 32 children.

Russells Nursery in Birdham, near Chichester, said it was closing for one day a week, even though bosses will lose out on thousands of pounds a year.

Owners Lesley and Richard Phillips said their accountant told them they were mad to close on Sunday's, traditionally every garden centre's busiest day.

But the couple, who themselves have two teenage sons and a baby daughter, said they just wanted a healthier work/life balance.

Mrs Phillips said: "Sunday was our busiest day but closing has made such a difference to us and the staff.

"They are so much happier because they've got their family time back and while we haven't had a chance to assess our takings we've already noticed it's been much busier during the week.

The family-run garden centre and restaurant is taking its fight to keep Sunday's special to MPs with a petition already running at 1,000 signatures.

The couple have run the garden centre for 11 years and said their restaurant was serving 200 customers on Sundays before they made the change.

Staff such as manager David Winstanley and his two-month old baby Noah were definitely appreciating the free time.

Mrs Phillips said: "The customers have been so supportive. The strength of feeling, to go back to when Sunday was about relaxing and spending time with family and friends, has been amazing.

"We've got to make this successful because so many people, who have to work on Sundays, don't have a day when they can get together with their children.

"With two teenage sons and a 16-month-old baby we were finding it hard to cope ourselves and we've just changed the staff's days around, so no one's losing out."

Trading laws were changed in 1994 to allow large stores to open, but for only six hours of business. Smaller shops are allowed to stay open all day.

More than two thirds of retailers now say Sunday is the second-biggest shopping day of the week.

But greater pressure is being put on the Government to increase the hours for supermarkets and larger high street stores.

Last year, 220 MPs signed a Commons motion urging the Government to stick to the current rules.

Mrs Phillips said: "Every day the postman brings letters from customers writing in with their support. It's been really amazing.

"Elderly people who ran their own businesses and worked on Sundays have told us to just go for it. They said their lives just went by and they didn't do anything.

"So we're going to send our petition to our MPs because there's a big coalition of supermarkets wanting to extend Sunday trading hours and we think that would be really sad for families."

Do any shops in your area close on a Sunday? Or do you think traders would be mad to close on the busiest shopping day of the week? Tell us what you think below.