Sunday Shopping

By facebooker_596875322

  • Lord's Day Act repealed, Nova Scotia makes its own laws

    1985: The Supreme Court of Canada rules that the Lord’s Day Act had no secular basis, and as such, violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Later that year, Nova Scotia enacts its own regulations about closing days for stores, granting municipalities the authority to set their own rules.

  • The Retail Business Uniform Closing Day Act

    The Retail Business Uniform Closing Day Act is enacted, prohibiting stores larger than 4,000 square feet from opening on Sunday, to ensure a uniform closing day between different jurisdictions. Numerous types of businesses are exempt from the law, including pharmacies and book stores, but department stores and large grocery stores had to remain closed.

  • Pete Luckett splits his business

    Pete Luckett, owner of Pete’s Frootique, is accused of violating the ban by reconfiguring his Bedford store into several incorporated businesses smaller than 4,000 square feet. He is acquitted in court.

  • Sunday shopping "experiment"

    2003: The provincial government announces that it will experiment with Sunday shopping, allowing large stores to open for the six Sundays preceding Christmas.

  • Plebiscite—Sunday Shopping: 55 percent vote "no"

    Nearly 180,000 Nova Scotians vote in a plebiscite on whether stores should be able to open on Sunday with 55 percent saying no.

  • Sobey's and Superstore copy Pete's Frootique

    After Sobeys and Atlantic Superstore start reconfiguring their stores like Pete’s Frootique, Premier Rodney MacDonald announces that only stores that restructured before June 1, 2006 will be allowed to stay open on Sundays.

  • Police enter Atlantic Superstore with measuring tapes.

    Armed with measuring tapes, police officers enter the Atlantic Superstore on Barrington Street to see if the individual store sections meet the requirements of the closing act. Three days later, Sobeys files a motion with the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to have the Uniform Closing Day Act repealed. Atlantic Superstore joins the case as an intervener.

  • Judge rules Sunday shopping laws "discriminatory"

    Judge Peter Richard rules that the new regulations were discriminatory, and the Nova Scotia Cabinet did not have the right to discriminate against businesses of a certain size or corporate structure. Rather than craft new closing day legislation, Rodney MacDonald announced that any store would be allowed to open on Sunday.