By Rebecca Kellogg
Sunday business can be a touchy subject in Utah County.
Storeowners, managers, employees and customers all live in a predominately LDS culture where Sunday business agitates some customers.
Sandra Thorne, an Orem resident, has strong feelings about supporting businesses that do not open on Sundays.
She has not been back to one local grocer since it started opening on Sundays two years ago.
“They used to be closed on Sunday. And then they, for some reason, decided that it was not economically feasible,” Thorne said.
“They put up big banners that said ”Now open to serve you 24 hours a day,” but they didn”t mention the part about being open on Sundays.”
She said she sent a comment card to the company and received a reply indicating that it was a corporate decision made for all stores.
The driving force behind a company”s Sunday operating policy is often economic.
“Quite frankly, companies stay open on Sunday because they think they will make more money,” said Stan Fawcett, a professor of business management at BYU. “In many instances it is classic peer pressure.”
Fawcett said owners and managers feel that if they close on Sunday, customers will start shopping at other stores, not only on Sundays, but also on other days of the week.
“The other thought is that by staying open additional hours, a store can generate more traffic and help cover the fixed costs,” he said. “The combination of peer pressure and greater revenue lead to this decision to stay open on Sunday.”
Not all businesses are following this trend. Some businesses are moving to better accommodate the value system of their customers and employees.
A pizza parlor and arcade game center in Orem has been closing on Sunday for about two years and has noticed a positive community response, said Robert Anderson, the store”s manager.
“We didn”t have a lot of business on Sunday. We had a lot of kids who didn”t want to work on Sunday, so we made the change,” he said. “There”s been a positive response since then. People felt like they wanted to come and support us.”
Employees have mixed feelings about Sunday shifts.
“I try to avoid Sunday shifts. It just feels weird to work on Sunday,” said Spencer Pechin, an Orem resident. He has worked several jobs, but he has only had to work a couple Sunday shifts.
“At the last job I had, it was nice because my department wasn”t open on Sundays, so there wasn”t even a possibility of working on Sundays,” he said.
