Editorial: Open all hours

The Palma City Council are quite rightly pushing hard for the city to become a major getaway weekend destination both in the summer and the winter. Come to Palma, recently voted the best place to live in the world, for a weekend.  But what concerns is that despite the best efforts of the city council, there is still a problem with shop opening hours. Some shops even close on a Saturday afternoon and only a handful open on a Sunday. Now obviously this is a big problem and some small shops are still resisting the call for more flexible opening hours. They claim that staffing costs mean that they can´t open at the weekend and still make a profit. But once again, as with many things in Majorca, this is chicken and egg. If you don´t open then more tourists will not venture into the city at the weekends but at the same time if there is not the right promotion then shoppers will not go into the city because they believe that shops are closed! Also, under pressure from the smaller retailers, the Sunday opening plan only extends to shops in and around the Jaime III and the Paseo del Borne. It is too late now because the local elections are on the horizon but the next ruling city council should try and introduce legislation which will mean that shops across the city can open when they want and not when the city council dictates. Palma is a fantastic place to visit, especially in the winter, but everything needs to open from shops to restaurants and bars.