A majority of Western Australians want shops to be able to open earlier on a Sunday morning, reigniting a push to expand WA’s draconian trading hours.
CCIWA’s Consumer Confidence Survey of almost 1,000 consumers for the September quarter found more than six in 10 (65%) wanted shops like supermarkets to have the ability to open before 11am on Sundays.
Less than one in five (18%) were neutral and only 14% were against the measure.
Currently, shops in the Perth metropolitan area can only trade between 11am and 5pm on Sundays. Trading hours in regional WA are decided by local government.
CCIWA Chief Economist Aaron Morey said it’s clear the WA public back expanding Sunday trading in Perth.
READ MORE: WA business confidence at three-year high
“Busy families want the flexibility to shop when it suits their schedules,” he said.
“Perth is the only city in Australia where you see people queuing outside a supermarket at 10.50 on a Sunday morning, waiting for the doors to open.”
The result shows an increase in the number of consumers who want extra shopping hours on Sundays – up from 59% when the question was last asked in December 2023.
More foot traffic
Morey said allowing a full day of trade on a Sunday from 8am would create more foot traffic in shopping precincts, boosting trade for smaller businesses.
“Amazon doesn’t wait until 11am on a Sunday to open,” he said.
“By giving local bricks and mortar retailers the choice to open for more hours will see more money flowing into WA businesses, rather than online retailers located interstate or overseas.
“Businesses can make their own choices around what hours they want to open.”
Morey said allowing longer shopping hours would create more opportunities for casual workers like students.
“People who work on Sundays are giving up their day, but at the moment they can only get five or six hours of work,” he said.
“Opening up Sunday morning trading would give those workers a full day of income.”
Consumer confidence down
The survey also found:
- Overall consumer confidence has dropped to its lowest level since December 2024, despite cooling inflation and three interest rate cuts in 2025.
- Almost a third (29%) of WA households expect economic conditions to improve over the coming year, compared with two in five (43%) who expected conditions to improve in June.
- Despite the bleak outlook, fewer households planned on tightening their belts in the next six months.
- Just over one in three (36%) expected to decrease their spending, compared with 45% who said they were planning to cut back in June.
“Despite the rate cuts and slowing inflation, the cost of living remains stubbornly high and we’re seeing the impacts of that flow through to consumers in these results,” Morey said.
“Other factors like global economic concerns are also weighing negatively, but the strong labour market in WA is clearly giving consumers the confidence to spend.”
CCIWA’s Economic reports, including Outlook, are available exclusively to CCIWA Complete, Advantage and Corporate Members. For more see CCIWA’s Economic Insight page.
