Local retailers hedge benefits of opening on Victoria Day or to stay closed

Retailers across Ontario won’t have to close this Victoria Day, as this year the province is allowing businesses to stay open on the statutory holiday known as “May long” or the “May two-four.”

But experts say it may only be big-box stores that will benefit from the extra hours.

Eligible retail employees could work and earn time-and-a-half premium pay, in addition to automatically receiving their full public holiday pay, or they could still take the day off.

“I think that that should be within the workers rights to be home and collect that holiday pay,” said Leah Walker, who works in retail. “There’s not a lot of time that we get to just take time off and not have to suffer repercussions of smaller paycheques.”

Walker has worked in retail most of their adult life, and says some employees may not feel safe saying “no.”

“It’s not a concern for me, but I’ve been in positions before, where it would be a concern,” said Walker.

READ MORE: Ontario to give retailers the option of opening on Family Day and Victoria Day

Some retailers on Locke Street in Hamilton are indifferent to the idea, but they told CHCH News that they see the benefits of being open on a long weekend.

“It’s a great opportunity — if it’s a day off and people want to go out shopping it’s a good opportunity for retailers to make a little more money,” said Heather Blandford, the owner of Lulu & Lavigne Home Studio.

“I assume larger retailers will want to stay open and maximize their profits on that day,” said Rebecca Bamford, the owner of Citizen Kid. “It’s a little too bad for workers who will be forced to work on a holiday.”

While the changes will allow retailers to open on Family Day and this upcoming Victoria Day, experts don’t think it will have a massive impact on profits.

“When we look at the example in the 1980s with Sunday shopping, it changed the way people spent their money,” said Colin Mang, an economist at McMaster University. “It didn’t increase the amount that people spent overall, so the same thing is going to happen here.”

Mang echoes what smaller retailers told CHCH News, that larger retailers who can afford to pay staff will benefit much more from the changes.

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