Jackman-Atkinson: What do we want to be when we grow up?
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- Published on Sunday, September 23, 2012
By: Kate Jackman-Atkinson
myWestman.ca
Western Manitoba is growing and in our area, much of this growth is centered around Neepawa. With this growth, Neepawa is strongly positioned to become the regional trade center it so wants to be. There’s only one problem, it seems like many local merchants don’t want to step up and fulfill this role.
Recently, Neepawa council defeated a motion to amend the Town’s Sunday shopping bylaw. The bylaw amendment would have allowed stores in Neepawa to open before noon on Sunday morning if they wanted to.
Council’s vote was tied, which meant the proposed amendment was defeated. One of the reasons cited by those voting against the proposal was response from local voters and ratepayers. Prior to the vote, Neepawa’s business community, and the public to a lesser extent, was canvassed for their thoughts about extended Sunday shopping hours.
Two large chain stores were strongly supportive of the amendment while the union that represents workers in one of those stores and other businesses in the town were indifferent or opposed to extending hours.
Overall, the local business community decided they didn’t want Neepawa to be open for businesses on Sunday morning, hardly the expected sentiment of a regional center’s business community.The issue, however, goes beyond Sunday morning shopping.
With more and more people coordinating family and working outside the home and off the farm, often in physically demanding jobs, today’s work reality means that many people are unable to buy the things they want and need between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Many local retailers haven’t realized that the needs of their customers have changed. A lot has changed since the days when stores only needed to be open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. five days a week. Business owners chastise local shoppers for going out of town, but if stores aren’t open when customers are available, they are left with little other choices.
It’s not all bad news though. Over the last six years, I have seen a lot of local business owners really step up and act like a regional center. A number of stores are now open late on weeknights and over the weekend and they have expanded their offerings. These business owners have recognized what they need to do to attract and keep customers and this means that people from across the region can buy what they need when they need it.
This works. It’s been a long time since we’ve had to head into Home Depot in Brandon on a weekend or evening because we needed something.But there are a lot of stores that haven’t stepped up too.
More than once this summer we have had to head into Brandon on a Saturday afternoon because we needed parts to fix something right away. We drove past local stores that carried what we needed, but were closed. Customers want increased convenience and in many cases, business owners want to help. Disappointingly, we are starting to see some regression.
Some stores that used to be open extended hours are cutting back. At some point, it has to come down to dollars and cents and I wonder how much of this reflects the province’s relentless increases to minimum wages.If this is that case, it’s to the detriment of everyone; that means business owners, consumers, employees and ultimately the government itself.
Each business has their own reasons for choosing their hours; they balance costs and income, hiring, scheduling and stocking, they look at what they sell and how urgently their customers need it. With each individual business’ decision, it’s time to decide what we want this town to be when it grows up.
