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+--- Thread: Grocery Stores To Open Sunday Despite Law (/showthread.php?tid=9142)
Grocery Stores To Open Sunday Despite Law - Frost__2001 - 06-23-2006
Grocery stores to open Sunday despite law
Last updated Jun 22 2006 12:49 PM ADT
CBC News
A grocery-store chain has announced plans to open even more stores on Sundays in Nova Scotia despite a provincial ban on shopping that day.
Shoppers will have a better idea of where the province stands on the issue of Sunday shopping because Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald said he will make clarify the government's position either Thursday or Friday.
The issue made headlines after two grocery chains, Sobeys and Atlantic Superstore, found a way to open outlets on Sundays by subdividing their stores.
Dirk Romyn, vice-president of marketing for the Altantic Superstore, says the chain will open parts of another five stores this Sunday in Nova Scotia, along with its outlet on Barrington Street in Halifax. Four of the additional stores are in metro Halifax, while one is in Sydney River.
Romyn said the five will be modelled on the Barrington Street outlet. The company will open sections of each store, but not the entire floor space.
Romyn says he is confident that provincial lawyers who have been instructed to look into the situation will find out that the chain is working within the law.
"We believe we have been compliant with the legislation in the Barrington Street store and that we will be compliant with these five that go forward this Sunday," he said.
"We would hope that the government would confirm that position of ours in their review."
Under the Retail Business Uniform Closing Day Act, stores with more than 4,000 square feet (about 372 square metres) of retail space are not allowed to open on Sundays.
But there is nothing in the provincial law to prevent a larger unit from dividing into smaller ones. Both Sobeys and Atlantic Superstore have recently divided some outlets into separate sections, each with its own cash register.
Justice Minister Murray Scott said he is not positive that the grocery stores are doing anything illegal and the provincial Justice Department is simply gathering information, not reviewing their conduct.
Scott said Wednesday he thinks the legislation is being interpreted correctly. Police have laid no charges.
Both MacDonald and Scott have said the government will not likely rewrite the legislation.
Nova Scotia voters rejected seven-day shopping in a plebicite three year ago.