The happy shopper

One Sunday recently I had occasion to go shopping in Bay Street and I was most pleasantly surprised to observe the activity and general atmosphere of enthusiastic potential customers taking advantage of Bay Street's Sunday shopping opportunity. It was a real eye-opener.

Previously, I had been rather surprised at the general unavailability of shopping facilities on Sundays and public holidays but, suddenly, it was Sunday and people were shopping - and in surprisingly large numbers.

While this is obviously a rather delicate subject to broach, it is one that will need to be addressed, particularly in relation to Malta's entry intoto the European Union. There was a great deal of resistance initially in the UK to the idea of Sunday trading, both morally and culturally.

However, in time, the inevitable happened. Slowly but surely, chemists, fashion shops, large department stores, bookshops, ironmongers et al joined the Shopping on Sunday brigade and, nowadays, shopping on Sundays and Bank Holidays carries on as normal, rather like a weekday but with shortened opening hours. Typically, shops will open on these special days between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Understandably, those on the 'receiving end' - the shopkeepers in Malta - will be rather reluctant to undertake these extra arduous and seemingly unnecessary shop opening hours. However, they would do well to take note of what happened so successfully in the UK.

Initially, there was resistance to any such notion that people might actually want to shop on Sundays but, gradually, the idea took hold and, nowadays, Sundays are almost indistinguishable from weekdays, particularly in relation to supermarkets and fashion stores, apart from the fact that opening hours are restricted and are usually 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Another interesting deviation from UK shopping hours is the Maltese custom of early opening from, say, 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. and then the afternoon closure until reopening at 4 until 7 p.m.

Here, there is an interesting new development: some fashion shops in Sliema, such as Accessorise, Marks & Spencer and Dorothy Perkins, are now open all day weekdays and this is a boon to those who, for whatever reason, are only free to shop between 1 and 4 p.m. In fact, those very shopkeepers who operate the 1 to 4 p.m. closure are naturally prevented from shopping because they are only free to shop when all the shops are closed!

In fact, supermarkets are the first to operate all-day shopping hours, to the great satisfaction of their customers. Let us hope that EU membership will mean a natural progression towards shop opening hours that are mutually beneficial to customers and shopkeepers alike!

Allied to the general theme of customer satisfaction is a little anecdote which helps to illustrate the positive side of Maltese customer relations and general bonhomie that exist in these lovely islands.

An Accessorise customer had returned an unwanted gift and, as that store operates an excellent policy whereby gifts can be exchanged if unwanted provided that it is within ten days of the original purchase, the customer was given a credit note for the amount, a paltry Lm13. The customer tried on several occasions to find a replacement article to purchase with the credit note, but to no avail.

Eventually, the customer returned to request that the credit note should be treated as a cash refund. The very words "cash refund" found immediate resistance from the manageress and a verbal battle ensued where very little progress was made in finding a solution to the problem. The dissatisfied customer was repeatedly but firmly told that no cash would be forthcoming.

At this juncture, another customer joined the queue at the counter and provided a wonderful solution to the problem: she volunteered to use the said credit note as part of her purchase and to hand over the Lm13 in cash to the disgruntled customer! Smiles ensued all round and three satisfied people shook hands on the deal! The manageress received a credit note and cash for the item sold to the second customer, the first customer received the actual cash and honour was satisfied all round!

Ultimately, slowly but surely, the customs and modus operandi of other European countries will be assimilated by the people of these Islands to the ultimate improvement of standards and lifestyles of all their inhabitants. Let us look forward with positive attitudes to the inevitable changes and welcome the different systems as part of an improving change of circumstances for the mutual benefit of all concerned.