Scotland’s oldest sports shop has opened for the first time on a Sunday in its 100-year history, with its owner blaming “an Americanised culture” for the move. Greaves Sports began a seven-day operation from January 3 at its store in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street.
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Greaves Sports Shop
Scotland’s oldest sports shop has opened for the first time on a Sunday in its 100-year history, with its owner blaming “an Americanised culture” for the move.
Greaves Sports began a seven-day operation from January 3 at its store in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street.
Managing director Sandy Greaves said it flew in the face of his own values and had been forced on the family business by multi-chain firms like Sports Direct and JJB Sports, which open every day.
Mr Greaves also made an appeal to the retail sector and local and national government to instigate moves that would curtail Sunday trading, claiming major European cities including Berlin, Milan and Oslo survive well with only Monday to Saturday opening.
He said: “This is a decision I have not relished making as I have made no secret of my views on the matter. There’s a definite decline in family values which is fuelled by an Americanised culture of ‘everything all the time’ and the willingness of multi-chain multi-national companies to provide this.
“We’ve held on for as long as we can, but not opening on a Sunday while our rivals do puts us at a major disadvantage in an increasingly tough economic environment. Our business has been a part of the city for over 75 years and I have to do what it takes to ensure it’s here for the next generation.”
The Glasgow-based business has been operating since the 1930s and run by five generations of the Greaves family.
The Sauchiehall Street store was opened in 1900 by boxing promoter Alan Lumley before being bought by the Greaves family in 1959 and traded as Lumley’s until the 1980s when it changed to Greaves. It is the oldest sports shop in Scotland and last weekend it opened on a Sunday for the first time.
Mr Greaves’s announcement comes in a week when one of the leading figures in the Scots motor trade, Peter Vardy, revealed his dealerships will close on Sundays.
The devout Christian, who has showrooms in Edinburgh, Perth, Motherwell and Kirkcaldy, said the move will allow his staff to spend time with their families.
Sundays are usually the busiest day of the week for motor dealers.
Mr Greaves added: “I applaud Peter Vardy for his decision but his industry is set up differently from ours and for us to follow suit it would require a more united front, either driven at national or local government level, or by the industry itself.
“If the majority in our market, even locally, agreed to take a stance then it would perhaps be financially feasible, but unfortunately I strongly doubt that values such as Peter Vardy’s will become the trend in a sports retail sector populated with the likes of Sports Direct and JJB.
“It would be wonderful to see Glasgow take a stance on this issue and follow other great cities, such as Berlin, Milan and Oslo, which survive very well without Sunday shopping.”
The Federation of Small Businesses said independent retailers had a stake in the community, provide jobs, retain skills and expertise locally, and “are a powerful voice in lobbying for local improvements”.
But the FSB’s Scottish policy convener, Andy Willox, added: “Opening earlier in the morning, later at night, or on Sundays clearly puts a greater strain on the smaller, family-run business than it does on, say, a large chain store with multiple outlets and many staff who can share the burden. It also increases certain overheads.
“But when people are now going online late Christmas Eve or Christmas Day itself to start their January sales shopping, it’s fairly plain that consumers’ demands and expectations have changed and that Sunday trading is here to stay.”