The vast majority of 200 people who attended a public meeting over Tesco’s decision to launch Sunday trading at the Stornoway store voted against the move.
Nobody supported the seven day opening though there were a handful of people who abstained from the show of hands.
Since taking over the site in 2008, the retail giant has closed its doors on Saturday nights, reopening to the public on Monday mornings in respect to the Lewis tradition of maintaining Sunday as a day of rest.
But now bosses at Britain's biggest supermarket group - which recently forecast £2.9
billion pounds operating profit for the current financial year - has ditched the
Stornoway supermarket’s uniqueness of being the only one in its UK chain not operating
all days of the week.
From noon tomorrow (17 November) the first Sunday customers will pass through its doors.
Tesco didn’t attend the Stornoway Town Hall forum - organised by the Lewis branch
of the Lord’s Day Observance Society (LDOS) - though a chair was set aside for their
representative.
Rev Kenneth Stewart of the LDOS said: “The empty chair will be the most eloquent speaker, without a doubt, because it tells its own tale. The tale it tells is that it's sad to say, Tesco doesn't really seem to care that much about the opposition to its own proposals and its decision.
“Even if it is legal for them to do what they're doing, they have shown absolutely no sensitivity whatsoever to the moral and spiritual convictions of their own customers and the cultural patterns of life of many islanders who are not religious.
“They do claim to have consulted, but, despite being a regular customer in Tesco, I was never consulted. And neither, as far as I understand, was the public consulted in any meaningful way.
Tesco could have handed out a questionnaire at the front door to customers but failed to do so he said.
The company declining requests to explain their decision in media interviews is a “bit disrespectful and patronising towards the community they are claiming to be caring for” he added.
Tesco insists seven-day opening has nothing to do with increasing sales but focused
on improving customer service added Mr Stewart.
“The manager I spoke to at Tesco said that that was their desire. He said, expressly, this was not a financial consideration. They were simply trying to improve customer experience,.
Suggestions put forward to the supermarket giant by the LDOS to improve customer experience were not taken up.
The store own option “offends probably the majority of their customers and deeply grieves a significant number of them.”
Retail shutdown on Sundays is the common practice across many parts of Europe - such
as France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, highlighted Mr Stewart.
“That's why it seems strange for people to think that we somehow belong to the dark ages because we want to keep a communal day of rest here. It is a contemporary, modern thing to do elsewhere in Europe.”
“24/7 is not all it’s cracked up to be. Sunday as a day of rest benefits community health, individuals, and families.”
Next to speak was Cllr Gordon Murray who highlighted: “I've had many local atheists contact me and agree with the sentiments that I've made in public about keeping Tesco closed.
“A lot of continental Europe closes on a Sunday, recognising that workers need time
to re-energise and recuperate.
Sunday closure in Lewis means “we're actually ahead of the curve on this issue. Surely, we don't want to regress.”
Pressing ahead with seven-day operations will have an “irreversible change to our
way of life. Is Tesco really that desperate make that change in a community that
has supported them for years?
“Tesco, please respect us and keep closed on a Sunday.”
From the audience Lorna Scott pointed out: There's no buses on Sunday and there’s no need for Tesco to be open on Sunday.”
Community activist Charlie Nicolson said: “This is not about religion. It's about keeping our Sabbath, yes, but it's about keeping our culture and our traditions. Tesco do not care for our community values.”
The Lewis Sunday is an unique cultural factor which attracts people to relocate to the island because we have a day “that’s a Sabbath day and a day of rest.”
He said he and his neighbours on James Street and surrounding residential area have been “steamrolled” by Tesco with the prospect of more noise, traffic and litter.
“By doing this, Tesco are dividing our island. They're dividing it for the sake of profit. They don't care for the culture.”
Josh Gibbens highlighted: “There are certainly people who are vocally supportive of Tesco opening on Sunday.”
He also believed “there is a strong feeling from some people that they would neither
support or oppose it - its a binary choice.
He said: “I agree it's important that all people, irrespective of their religion
or beliefs, get a day off - whether this is a Sunday or other way or otherwise, is
open to discussion.”
Some people did not wish to attend this meeting “because they feared, perhaps consequences of doing so, rightly or wrongly.”
He continued: “I am not asking people who wish to observe the Sabbath or have Sunday off to change their behaviour, nor do I wish to interfere with their way of life.”
Culture and traditions are “fluid” over time. Sabbath observance is a “beautiful thing, and it is important that everyone has a free choice.”
What he would like is “that everyone be heard and that it is possible, I think with the right people, the right voices, that multiple groups can exist in cohabitation and without conflict to each other.”
Public meeting opposes Tesco Sunday opening
16 November 2024