Coles says WA shop hours rules a "farce"


Coles managing director Ian McLeod has slammed Western Australia's retail trading hours regime as "a complete farce".

Mr McLeod told a business forum in Perth on Thursday that WA should change its retail trading hours regime, which was "a decade behind the rest of Australia".

Under WA's retail trading regulations, certain retail outlets can open on a Sunday while others cannot, depending on factors such as how many staff are on shift at any one time and whether the store is in a tourism precinct.


Progress appears to be being made, however, with the WA government and opposition agreeing in-principle in June to extend trading hours on weeknights while shops selling bulky or "durable consumer goods" will be allowed to trade on Sunday.

But the ad hoc changes - resulting from several attempts at reform - were recently labelled a "dog's breakfast" by Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive James Pearson.

Mr McLeod said it was a confusing situation that begged for improvement.

"Western Australian trading hours are a complete farce in my view and it's something I believe ought to be addressed," Mr McLeod said.

"We've got six stores that are open in Perth on a Sunday and more than 50 stores in WA that have to remain shut on that day because they don't fit with all the strange rules."

Speaking with reporters after the briefing, Mr McLeod went a step further, advocating full de-regulation of the retail sector.

"Why does it have to be regulated at all?

"It should be down to the retailer.

"It offers more employment, it offers more choice (for consumers)... so why regulate at all?"

WA's current retail trading hours regime gave an unfair advantage to IGA supermarkets, which were far from "corner shops", he told the briefing.

"In Perth, they're bloody huge."

Mr McLeod said the current regime was also unfair to WA shoppers.

"The customer needs a fair go."

He said 80 per cent of Perth residents wanted extended weekday supermarket hours and over 70 per cent wanted more flexible Sunday trading rules.

"So there's a very substantial demand out there."

Mr McLeod also said more than $30 million would be spent on renewing Coles stores in WA in 2011, with four stores set for refurbishment before Christmas.

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Are you sure it's a good idea? I wonder how long it would take for the $3 trillion debt to blow out to $6 trillion?

Shop 'til you drop. Don't people get sick of buying consumer junk? seems not.

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Why upset the status quo?

aussiefree2ride wrote on Sep 16^th, 2010 at 7:42pm:


You know deregulated trading doesn't "kill small business" yeah? A lack of competition, and inefficient operation does - and is - doing that.

aussiefree2ride wrote on Sep 16^th, 2010 at 7:58pm:


Not exactly. You know for example, that the majority of customers at Coles and Woolworths still choose to buy their fruit and vegetables elsewhere - these other stores offer quality and service that the larger chains don't.

Incidentally, the small business sector is no worse off over East, where deregulated trading has been in effect for years. They were certainly forced to change the way they operate, and they did so effectively.

Edit: And when people talk about small business here, they mistakenly place IGA in that same category, when it's anything BUT. They bought out all the corner stores a long time ago - and the primary reason people go there is because they have no choice but to. The fact remains that they're unnecessarily expensive, and the quality of produce (and selection) is shite.

aussiefree2ride wrote on Sep 16^th, 2010 at 8:08pm:


I spent 7.5 years with the company that distributes to IGA (and is operated by the same company).

And you would struggle to find anything that shows small business to be worse off in the East (as opposed to WA) because of deregulated trading.

aussiefree2ride wrote on Sep 16^th, 2010 at 8:20pm:


I do remember them - I probably saw the end of them though.

Thing is, they're already gone here, replaced by IGA's (who are the one falsely spreading the idea that they are small business, which people are unfortunately buying).