Changing times

The various local authorities do not appear willing to extend the opening hours of shops and in fact they appear more interested in protecting small traders than making Palma a shopping paradise. It does sound amazing that, even though Palma is a tourist capital, shops still have limited opening hours, and it could be argued that they are not cashing in on the holiday boom during the summer months. But the local authorities will find themselves under pressure from the bigger commercial centres which want to open seven days a week. Now it seems quite logical to me that shops should be allowed to open and close when they want rather than when the city council says. Millions of euros, especially from cruise ship passengers, are being lost every year simply because shops and even some bars and restaurants fail to open on a Sunday. Tourists are amazed when they leave their resorts and find that the city is closed on a Sunday. Lets face it, shopping is a major part of our leisure time, especially in northern Europe. Going to the shopping centre is a way of life. But not in Palma. The council believes that by allowing more flexible shopping hours they will open the floodgates and will mean that hundreds of small shops will go to the wall. But this is a very outdated view. Times are changing. The big stores know that it is only a question of time before internet shopping takes over the High Street and they want to react now with more flexible opening hours.