Sorry we're shut, it's 2000

By Jason Collie

Retailing in the 21st century looks like getting off to a slow start.

Shop assistants, like many other workers, are not keen to work either New Year's Eve or January 1 and their union is campaigning for a shutdown.

Employers, wary of either having no staff or having to pay those willing to work lots of money, are considering closing their doors.

A survey by the Retail Marketers Association is showing that while the big chains are set to open on January 1, which falls on a Saturday, many middle-size operations expect to close. Association senior executive Barry Hellberg says replies to the survey are still coming in, but a trend is evident.

The National Distribution Union wants all shops to close from 7 pm on New Year's Eve and stay shut the next day - a proposal which the chief executive of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, Michael Barnett, says will be a backward step, returning New Zealand to "the attitude we had in the 50s and 60s."

The union's national retail industrial secretary, Carol Beaumont, says she is pleasantly surprised that the idea of closing has not been rejected out of hand.

"Part of the reason we are not getting a blanket `no' is that the industry is realising it is not us making it up and that there is a large number of workers who have been saying for six months they do not want to work."

But to make it work, all the major players have to come on board, because of the competitive nature of the industry.

The chairman of the National Association of Retail Grocers and Supermarkets, Garry Christini, says the idea is "worthy of consideration" but stores in tourist areas are likely to open anyway.