British Stores Defy Never-on-a-Sunday Shopping Policy

LONDON —  Millions of shoppers in England and Wales flocked to hundreds of stores that defied the law and opened their doors to customers on Sunday.

The stores, most belonging to large chains, reported long lines of shoppers waiting at opening time. Many said that business was as good as or better on Sunday than on weekdays.

“All signs are that customers have welcomed Sunday opening,” said a spokesman for Tesco, a large supermarket chain that opened about 350 of its 379 stores in England and Wales. “Shoppers have given us a thumbs-up verdict.”

A statement from Safeway, which opened 210 of its 264 stores, said that it will open more next week and “with more people knowing about it--and Christmas getting closer--business will be even brisker.”

The chains announced that they will be open every Sunday until Christmas, and some indicated that they may consider making open Sundays a regular occurrence.

However, the Keep Sunday Special organization, which opposes the move, argued that 50 million Britons did not go shopping Sunday and that the chain stores’ revolt against laws that ban trading on Sunday is “already an expensive failure.”

Although the issue of opening stores for Sunday shoppers has become controversial in England and Wales, Scotland already permits Sunday store hours.

The argument arises from the Shops Act of 1950, which permits only certain kinds of goods to be sold on Sunday. Just what can be sold and what cannot has long been disputed.

Last week, Atty. Gen. Patrick Mayhew said he does not think it “appropriate” for the national government to take police action to enforce the law, and he left it to local authorities to make their own decisions.

The whole matter is now before the European Court of Justice, which may overturn the British law. Meanwhile, the government here is not expected to act on the controversial old law until after the next general election.

The Keep Sunday Special group has the support of the head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey; the Roman Catholic primate, Cardinal Basil Hume, and Britain’s chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks.

In a letter to Prime Minister John Major, the church leaders declared, “The government should neither condone nor appear to condone illegal activities.” Tolerating the deliberate flouting of the law governing Sunday trading would undermine “the institution of a nationally observed day,” the letter added.

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist chief warned the public Sunday to be “extremely vigilant” after a spate of post-midnight bombing attacks on London stores that authorities blamed on the Irish Republican Army.

Cmdr. George Churchill-Coleman said that firebomb attacks at four major furniture stores in central London were believed to be the work of the IRA.

He said the attacks could presage a Christmas bombing campaign against stores and shoppers by the outlawed Irish militant group.

The incendiary devices, he said, are left behind by terrorists posing as shoppers and can cause extensive damage. About 40 families were evacuated from the vicinity of Sunday’s fires and taken to hospitals, but no one was injured.