Why do shops close so early in Australia? It’s not until you go overseas that you realise how pitiful Australian shopping hours really are. Shopping is stressful. Even more stressful if you work from nine to five. Most full-time workers in Australia only have the opportunity to go shopping on Thursday or Friday nights and on weekends. Why is this the case? In the U.S and Canada, most shopping centres close at 9 PM at the earliest. I understand the cost is probably a big factor and that it costs money to keep shops open but I’m sure many full-time workers would take advantage of late-night shopping.
Even Chadstone, the biggest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere closes at 5:30 PM on Mondays through Wednesdays. Not to mention there are also shopping centres in the Melbourne and Sydney CBDÂ that close at five!
Why is this still happening in 2019?
There are shopping centres in small U.S towns that are open later than major Australian shopping centres.
Sunday trading was not introduced in Australia until 1991! And even then it was only done 10 Sundays per year. It wasn’t until 1996 that we finally had full Sunday trading.
I really hope that Australia can get with the times and increase our shopping hours soon. It will create more jobs, boost the economy and will make a lot of our lives much easier!
