The Trib today has an article about the owner of several shopping malls across the country reducing the amount of time the mall is open for business. The reduction is about an hour a day, but the reason given is the savings for the mall merchants in salaries.
Maybe this should go farther. Perhaps history has a lesson for us.
For years now we have become accustomed to having unlimited access to shopping. The build out of stores allows us to drive a very short distance to shop for almost anything, be it from the local mega mart or a purveyor of electronics. Most clusters of stores have the dry cleaners, clip joints, Starbucks, movie rentals, formal wear, sporting goods, and several banks. An ice cream franchise, Paneras, Fridays, Burger King, Subway, McDonalds, Olive Garden, Arby’s, an oil change place, several grocery stores, optical shops, Target, other clothing stores, Sears, bed stores and furniture outlets. This list is not quite all I can find in the local four corners, but close.
Shopping convenience isn’t by itself a bad thing, but how much of a jump is it to equate the overheated economy with the ability to shop every hour of every day. I’d suggest our preoccupation with shopping is the national influenza.
My suggestion is that we start to rein in our need to shop. Let’s go back to having everything closed on Sunday. Banks, gas stations, grocery stores and pharmacies, all closed all day Sunday. And let’s scale back the hours of retail to a reasonable amount of time, say from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. One thing it would do is force us to plan ahead. Like we did before shopping became a form of dementia and obsession. The old Sunday Blue Laws forced everything to close on Sunday. No bars or restaurants were open. Nothing.
And even if we close some stores, it isn’t like you couldn’t find a convenience store open to get a quart of milk, or you couldn’t order a pizza. ATM’s and the internet would still be available for the hopelessly addicted shoppers, and with credit cards, there isn’t much need for banks.
What I’m suggesting is that for one day a week we stay home, spend time with our families, study for school, participate in religious services, gather with family, visit with friends, swim in the lake or build a snowman, equally available most of the year in Illinois. Perhaps with less temptation we’d actually enjoy being home.
I don’t believe that the loss of a few part time jobs is reason enough to scuttle the chance for families to find their bearings for a day, and have a chance to rest before the rat race starts again on Monday. I’d like to see everything closed, really, just everything, except churches, police, fire and hospitals and perhaps a gas station or two.
Is the loss of family life an American disgrace? Why did we lose our desire to visit neighbors and friends? Walk around the block, go bowling, watch grandchildren play on swings, go to Mom’s for Sunday dinner after church? In our selfishness, we’ve decided that we should be in charge of us, and the result of this attitude we plan our day without much thought about what we teach our children by example. It’s little wonder why they hang out in malls. That’s their community. Why shouldn’t it be, it’s our community too. So let’s shut off the PC and the Ipod and relearn the art of conversation. It will be a challenge, but just think what we could learn about each other, about perspective, about our family.
If we don’t teach our children by our example, who will teach our grandchildren?
I would like very much to find a grocery store that was closed on Sundays. I would do all my grocery shopping there even if I had to pay a premium to do so. I try never to buy on Sunday by doing so you are causing someone to be required to work on Sunday. How can you ask people to come to church on Sunday if by your actions you are going to require them to work on Sunday.
Tom,
I agree with your comment, but as with everything else, I wonder where we start. I guess it has to be a personal thing. Some people really need those jobs at Wal Mart, I’m sure They could be single moms or some who was downsized and is struggling to make ends meet. When stores and gas stations were closed by law, no one had a choice. I’ll bet people who had longer work days, and both mates working, were relieved to have an option. Last night at church Pastor pointed out that we have lost our margins. We go red line all the time and any ripple on the pond sends us into a tailspin. One way to combat our over involvement is to take Sunday off. I will if you will
I’m living in Germany right now and here everything really is closed on Sundays (except for the gas stations and maybe a few cafes and bars). You have no idea how horrible that is! It’s like living in a ghost town! And you can’t do anything, you are just stuck home watching TV or doing some chores (in Europe nobody goes to church every Sunday). Forget about shopping this is about living! I don’t want to waste one day of my life every week. And anyway having everything closed on Sundays means less jobs! Considering the high unemployment all across Europe and the US this is the last thing we need right now.
Dititar,
Great comment. Having cafes and bars open is more than we had when I was young. Sunday became a day that there were no good options, if you were under the age of 40 or 50. Unlike most of Europe, we didn’t have, and still don’t have, great public transportation, so unless I walked to a friend’s home, I was stuck with my family. I recall my parents and grandparents sitting in the living room reading the Sunday paper and planning dinner. Now I do the same thing. I can see having the libraries and museums open. Cafes and clubs too, I suppose. But why not close the stores and shops? We are children. We will not explore the quiet pursuits of life unless we have the other options closed to us. Use Sunday differently than the other six days. Have one day to write to lost friends, visit mom or read a book. If the current generation doesn’t know about the advantages of rest and restoration, how will they ever have something to complain about when they are sixty year old
I agree. I’ve been in retail for 15 yrs now and I’m a store manager. It would not hurt us to be closed on Sunday. It would probably help! We are not all that busy on a Sunday it seems in my area people do spend time with family. This has been true of every retailer I’ve worked for. The Sunday business in my opinion is not large enough to worry about. If it’s something someone really wants they will shop on another day. I think the reason we don’t close is competition. If we close but that other store that sells the same thing doesn’t well guess what we did lose business. I know all my employees would love to have just one day that they knew they had off every week. Plus if everything was closed the rest of their family would have the same day off. That’s something that is so hard to do if your whole family is in retail. I would really love it because even if I’m off if the store is open I’m never really off. I always have to be available for questions and if something happens I have to drop everything and go in. I say close everything except necessities that means hospitals and drug stores and I’m iffy on drug stores because that’s forcing someone to work. If you know the drug store is closed well get your meds on Saturday or the week before. So close everything!!!! What are we so desparate for that it couldn’t wait a day or be done the day before? Spend time with your family and friends, play outside, go to the park, read a good book.