Paul Smith and Selfridges bosses calls for Sunday trading hours to be extended

The chief executive of Selfridges Group has called for Sunday trading hours in England and Wales to be extended, saying its Oxford Street flagship would benefit significantly from opening for an extra two or three hours.

André Maeder told The Sunday Times that Sunday was the day on which most consumers had time to shop. Under the Sunday Trading Act 1994, large shops in England and Wales may open for only six continuous hours between 10am and 6pm.

“In Germany, where I worked for Kaufhaus des Westens, or Switzerland, where I come from, you cannot open on a Sunday, so I’m happy with the solution here,” Maeder said. “But I really think even two hours more would really help, because this is the day that everybody has time [to shop].”

The Selfridges flagship opens for browsing at 11.30am on a Sunday but cannot sell goods until 12pm. Maeder said he would prefer it to trade from 11am to 7pm. “We open the store at 11.30am, but you can’t buy…it’s a little bit crazy,” he said.

His comments were echoed by Ewan Venters, executive chairman of Paul Smith and a former chief executive of Fortnum & Mason.

“At Christmas time at Fortnum’s, we would literally let people fill trolleys of food,” Venters said. “And we’d even scan the items in the few minutes before 12pm, then wait for 12pm to push pay. It is all antiquated.”

The act was brought into effect under John Major’s government after years of opposition to Sunday buying and selling. George Osborne, the former chancellor, later tried to loosen the restrictions by passing control to local authorities, but the plan was blocked by parliament. London retailers have since renewed calls for the rules to be relaxed.

Venters said the original compromise “was born out of a point of view that if you are starting to ask people to work on a Sunday, you should also respect that, as a Christian country, people should be allowed time to go to church and be with their family. But of course life has changed a lot.”

Maeder said Sunday shifts were “quite loved” by Selfridges staff. “We’re pushing nobody to work on a Sunday,” he said.

The rules were also presented as protection for smaller shops against large supermarkets, although the big grocers now operate thousands of their own convenience stores, which trade without Sunday restrictions. Venters said Scotland does not restrict Sunday trading and suggested a “common model” could apply across the UK.

Costs and ownership

Both businesses are attempting a reinvention. Luxury stores including Selfridges have been affected by the removal of VAT-free shopping for tourists under Rishi Sunak, a policy the Mulberry chief executive has also urged ministers to reverse. Both have also been hit by higher employment taxes and energy costs.

“We are suffering like everybody else from this crazy decision,” Maeder said of the end of the VAT relief. “It’s not only luxury. This is harming retail, hotels, taxi drivers, airports, everybody.”

Maeder said footfall had risen at Selfridges for four years in a row. His strategy is to turn the store into an “experiential” destination with more pop-ups, brand collaborations and hospitality, aimed at Londoners rather than tourists now shopping in Paris or Milan.

Selfridges was owned by the Weston family until 2022, when it was bought by Thailand’s Central Group and Austria’s Signa Holding. Signa was plunged into financial crisis in 2023 as rising interest rates increased pressure on its debts, and its stake passed to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which runs the store with Central Group.

Wholesale in retreat

Paul Smith has cut ties with hundreds of less profitable wholesale locations and is seeking to grow direct-to-consumer sales. Venters said many independent stockists had closed after the pandemic, while others had been absorbed by consolidators such as Frasers Group, which bought Harvey Nichols in August.

“In a nutshell, we’ve got a business that in wholesale is one third of what it once was, making significantly less margin, because as the consolidation happens, the bigger guys then expect bigger discounts,” he said.

The United States is becoming a more important market, Venters said. “I think the Americans are getting back to offices faster than the Europeans are.”

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