Sunday is for shopping

Some downtown Fargo businesses are choosing to open their doors on Sundays.

Downtown Fargo Businesses opening Sundays.

In a recent article written in the Fargo Forum by Angie Wieck an interview was conducted with the owner of Zandbroz, a locally owned small business in downtown Fargo. According to the article, Zandbroz was one of the first downtown businesses that opened it's doors on Sundays. For most fargo natives like myself, we are used to shopping downtown only Monday through Saturday or even sometimes Tuesday through Saturday. With encouragement from the Downtown Community Partnership, the number of downtown Fargo businesses that are open sundays went from 17 to 28 in recent months (Wieck). This is quite a dramatic hop considering 5 years ago next to no businesses besides liquor stores kept their doors open on Sundays.

Does opening Sundays generate revenue?

Zandbroz claims its reasoning behind opening it's doors on Sundays comes from its desire to compete with stores in the mall. Some stores argue that the fixed costs of staying open sunday don't even out with the revenue generated from staying open. The business owner of Lot 2029 disagrees by commenting how they always end up better off if they open on Sundays than if they were to keep their doors closed (Wieck). I think the matter lies within the type of business. I agree that it is a great idea for a business to stay open on sundays for limited hours if they are a retail clothing store/boutique, tourist shop, or restaurant. For other businesses such as large offices, firms, and corporate owned companies, they are better off keeping the regular weekend hours.

Consistency is key.

Being that I do work downtown at a bridal store I have experienced this somewhat popular debate. The store I work in is closed sundays but available by appointment only. This is because it is a store that operates primarily by appointment and purpose driven customers only. I think a company should have the option to decide the hours it operates and the seasons it wants to stay open when it comes to Sunday shopping. What works for Zandbroz might not work for other boutiques downtown. One of the greatest perks of working in a store outside of a mall, it not having regulation hours and having the flexibility of operating during the chosen hours. However, I do agree that shops have to be consistent with their hours for the sake of customer ease.

Works Cited:
Weick, Angie. "Sunday Sales: more downtown businesses are opening Sundays." Fargo Forum [Fargo] 29 August 2015: Print.

PPicture Citation: Downtown Fargo. Open Sundays Downtown Fargo. Digital Image. www.downtownfargo.com. Downtown Fargo, n.d. Web. 1 Sept. 2015.