Unrestricted Sunday shopping finally comes to Miramichi this weekend

At long last, restrictive Sunday shopping hours are coming to an end in the last New Brunswick city to dictate when stores can open.

Until now, Miramichi retail stores were limited to operating from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. But that is no more after citycouncil passed a law this past week, making the change effective immediately.

"Generally speaking, people are quite pleased," said Tiffany Gallivan, director of the Downtown Miramichi Business Network, in an interview with CBC radio's Shift.

"We are modernizing Miramichi now, a thriving little community. We are growing trends are shifting."

Sunday shopping bans were once common across Canada. In New Brunswick, it was up to municipalities to make their own restrictions.

The change was first brought to council in May after being requested by the Retail Council of Canada. Despite the delay, Gallivan credits the city with taking the time to ensure it was the right move before acting. With increasing tourism to the area, she said the time was right.

"It was a deterrent. There wasn't a lot to be able to do, you know, little touristy shopping kind of activities or what have you," Gallivan said.

Tourists andresidents would often leave the city to go to other nearby towns without the restriction if they wanted to shop on a Sunday, Gallivan said.

"So really they had nowhere to go on Sundays. So they were just quite, quite honestly just leaving for the day or leaving completely."

Businesses are not being forced to make the change, but they will now have the opportunity to do so if they wish. Many are already planning to stay open later, Gallivan said.

"We have a handful of businesses that are hoping to make that change, especially during the Christmas season and during the tourist season, so there are a few that are looking to make that adjustment to their hours."

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The northern city is the last community in the province to maintain restrictions on Sunday shopping hours.

The city has been growing in population, which Gallivan said has brought newcomers who weren't used to the restrictive hours.

"So those people have been struggling, for the most part, on adapting to those restrictive hours."

But for long-time residents, it won't take long to get used to the change.

"Once things get going and once people kind of start adjusting it, it's just going to kind of roll into just being second nature," she said.

"Some of our necessities, grocery stores, they'll be able to open a little bit earlier, which is, I think, a sigh of relief for many."