Yesterday was the first day of the winter sales. It was also the first day back at work for thousands of people. You just have to walk-up Jaime III to realise that all is not well and shops are suffering.
The local government albeit with the support of some sections of the shopkeeper associations, have straight-jacketed local businesses and now decide when they can put sale signs in their windows. This is a stupid state of affairs and the losers are us, the shoppers. If a shop wants to reduce its profit margin and sell articles at a cheaper rate then it should be able to do so without having to ask the permission of the local government. This ridiculous state of affairs continues with the winter sales. If shops had been allowed to start their sales last week I am sure that takings would have been higher simply because thousands of people were off work. Judging by what I saw yesterday only a small number of bargain hunters were out and many people will be waiting until the weekend. Why does the local government insist in getting involved in High Street shopping? Why are shoppers being punished in favour of a small number of shopkeepers? And who are the local government to place a ban on all new big stores and hypermarkets?
Shops should be allowed to open when they want and for how long they want.
I am sure staff wouldn't mind being paid some over-time. If the local government wants to be progressive I suggest that they visit Northern Europe where more flexible shopping has been a reality for more than a decade.