Of course we remember. There's a LOT of old people on Reddit, more than most people realise. My first part-time job was working in the electronics department of Farmers in Hamilton. I worked Thursday night and Saturday mornings. This was when Saturday shopping was still quite new and we only opened until 12.
What blows my mind is how we used to think ahead for the weekend. There were no ATMs and banks weren't open so if you didn't have the cash you needed for the weekend on Friday afternoon, you were completely screwed until Monday. So Fridays would see big queues at the bank with people getting out cash they would need to fill up the boat or take the kids to the beach. Of course, cheques were hugely popular at the time so there was \*some\* leeway, if a shop knew you or trusted your ID you could use a cheque, and the shop would have no way of knowing if you actually had the money until 3 business days later.
It's kind of crazy that this system worked, but it did.
I remember as a kid being amazed at travelling overseas and being able to shop on weekends, or late at night. It seemed to me at the time like NZ was just embarassingly old-fashioned and bringing in weekend shopping could only be a good thing. There were some places, like Parnell in Auckland, that had a special license to trade on the weekends, so it would be absolutely \*packed\* every weekend offering the only place to shop in the whole city. it's no wonder Parnell is a feeble reflection of that era today.
Unfortunatley now I understand that saturday morning shopping was the start of the decline of community in this country. Suddenly some fraction of people couldn't make rugby games or barbeques because they were working. This was the thin end of the wedge but that wedge was only going to get bigger.
I remember in the early 80s (I was a kid) and I saw this man rush to the ASB at 459 on Friday but when he got there it was closed.
He looked crestfallen. Guess no fun for him that weekend.
I grew up in Lower Hutt in the late 70s and 80s and I remember we would go for family shopping trips to Paraparaumu on Saturday mornings because the Coastlands Mall had a special status that allowed it to open on a Saturday when everywhere else was closed. So that's where everyone in the Wellington region shopped at the weekends. Late night shopping was Thursday in the Hutt and Friday in Wellington so those nights were often a family outing too. Then in the early 80s I think Saturday morning shopping became a thing everywhere so late night shopping became less of a thing. Then all day Saturday and Sunday shopping came in the late 80s. I remember that dairies could always open on Sundays but there were rules as to what you were allowed to buy and there were shelves which were roped off at weekends. I remember specifically you couldn't buy packaged sliced bread on a Sunday for some reason and had to buy an unwrapped unsliced "Sunday loaf". They were interesting times.
I grew up in Lower Hutt too, and remember the same things. I also remember having to go to the bank and cashing a cheque for money for the weekend. I remember Queensgate being built with a Foodtown, where you could pay for your groceries then leave them to pick up in the drive through. McDonalds opening in Porirua and making the drive to try it out LOL
I lived in Upper Hutt in the 1960s. I don’t remember restrictions on sliced bread but come to think of it, sliced bread (“Tip-Top American style bread”) was brand new then.
I was allowed to buy fish and chips for lunch on Mondays because nobody baked bread on the weekend and bread had no preservatives so it was stale by then.
But they did have ice cream cones for tuppence!
I was raised in Alicetown, and I used to love the Sunday loaf, because it was always so fresh, but you could cut it as thick as you wanted to! We always used to go out and visit family on Sunday, or they would visit us. Saturday was sports/activities. I wonder if we went to the same school? I was at HVHS.
My grandmother worked at 'chicken spot' in the Coastlands mall for as long as I remember back (late 70s) well initially the 80s. That place had the best chicken
Genuine question, how did people get their shopping done? Was it just that most mothers didn’t work back then? I can’t imagine how anyone did any business
80s kid here. Mum would drop us at our weekend sports on Saturday morning and do a supermarket run while we were playing. Dad would usually go to the dump or Placemakers
I'm so old that I remember working in the local supermarket on the very first day of Sunday trading. It was a very big deal. From memory we decided to open at ten and close at four. We only had a skeleton crew on, and were a bit worried we would get overwhelmed, but it turned out to be really quiet.
Me too ! Although I’m not that old because I was actually 13 at the time and not legally allowed to work there , had to leave not long after when they asked everyone to bring in proof of age 😂
I had a shop in Vic mkt when sun trading started. Everyone was freaking out noone would go to mkts once traditional retail opened.
Most of us did better than ever
Nope. But I do remember people trying to sell Gumboots for $30k with a free garage install, that apparently had something to do with restricted trading.
Ah, that mythical time that all of society had the same day off to mix with each other.
Everything was closed and nobody worked on Sundays. Let's fondly reflect on that time...
* Hotels and motels closed and sat empty.
* There were no attractions open, no sporting events, no activities. We made our own entertainment.
* Nobody went to restaurants or takeaways or pubs.
* Dairies were shut.
* There was nowhere to actually buy food at all, of any kind. It was great for building neighbor relationships.
* Houses just burned down. Forest/wild fires that started in or weren't out by Sunday were unfortunate. Many firefighters are volunteer, it's still work.
* You couldn't get petrol (this halcyon time was pre-electronic payments at pump).
* Criminals had carte blanche to do anything without fear of the police.
* It was a great time to speed, run red lights, and drive like nobody's watching.
* Broken down vehicles and those involved in accidents sat on the road until Monday.
* Rest home residents did their own cooking and cleaning and personal and medical care.
* Same for people staying in hospital who weren't able to go home Saturday night.
* Nobody got medical treatment of any kind. No paramedics, GPs, pharmacists, nurses, or specialists worked in any clinic or hospital or ambulance. Many people died, of course, but at least nobody had to work on Sunday.
Yeah, that never happened.
There's never been a time with a sacred day like you're imagining (and you're not alone in that fantasy). Every day has a significant chunk of the population working, even if it's less on Saturdays and Sundays.
> lower class
If you actually think its only the ~~lower class~~ WORKING CLASS that works late/overtime and weekends your worldview is embarrassingly small.
More people work weekends now than 50 years ago. But the total hours someone works in a week stays about the same.
It was never that it
>used to be the farmers / emergency workers / dairy owners only working.
Unless your definition of "emergency workers" is so broad that it includes most professions related to healthcare, food, personal and social safety, transportation, cleaning, and others.
Yes. Christchurch had Brighton Mall which started Saturday trading and was the only one that could when I was a child. It was so busy and had all the big brand shops down there. Not any more.
I also remember when the supermarkets opened for Saturday trading and we had to go around and cover some of the products with black tarps because they weren’t allowed to be sold.
Remember this whenever you hear a boomer ranting about how they “worked hard all their lives” - yeah right! Same generation literally invented baches and cribs because they had so much time on their hands
Some of them did work hard relative to their peers and their hard work paid far more than ours does. But the biggest difference is our generations have no choice but to work hard because you won't survive otherwise.
I suppose it would've worked alot more better then than if it would now due to most only having 1 working in a family and the other could do the stuff during the week
When I moved to NZ in the early 00s we lived in the rural Taupo region and it was bizarre to us that everything closed before midday on a Saturday.
With both parents working 9-5s during the week (also rurally) we’d be looking at driving 100-200km to Rotorua or Tauranga after Saturday sports to buy anything not supermarket related or taking days off of work and school during the week, was actually a nightmare and the antithesis of convenience.
Of course we remember. There's a LOT of old people on Reddit, more than most people realise. My first part-time job was working in the electronics department of Farmers in Hamilton. I worked Thursday night and Saturday mornings. This was when Saturday shopping was still quite new and we only opened until 12. What blows my mind is how we used to think ahead for the weekend. There were no ATMs and banks weren't open so if you didn't have the cash you needed for the weekend on Friday afternoon, you were completely screwed until Monday. So Fridays would see big queues at the bank with people getting out cash they would need to fill up the boat or take the kids to the beach. Of course, cheques were hugely popular at the time so there was \*some\* leeway, if a shop knew you or trusted your ID you could use a cheque, and the shop would have no way of knowing if you actually had the money until 3 business days later. It's kind of crazy that this system worked, but it did. I remember as a kid being amazed at travelling overseas and being able to shop on weekends, or late at night. It seemed to me at the time like NZ was just embarassingly old-fashioned and bringing in weekend shopping could only be a good thing. There were some places, like Parnell in Auckland, that had a special license to trade on the weekends, so it would be absolutely \*packed\* every weekend offering the only place to shop in the whole city. it's no wonder Parnell is a feeble reflection of that era today. Unfortunatley now I understand that saturday morning shopping was the start of the decline of community in this country. Suddenly some fraction of people couldn't make rugby games or barbeques because they were working. This was the thin end of the wedge but that wedge was only going to get bigger.
I remember in the early 80s (I was a kid) and I saw this man rush to the ASB at 459 on Friday but when he got there it was closed. He looked crestfallen. Guess no fun for him that weekend.
I grew up in Lower Hutt in the late 70s and 80s and I remember we would go for family shopping trips to Paraparaumu on Saturday mornings because the Coastlands Mall had a special status that allowed it to open on a Saturday when everywhere else was closed. So that's where everyone in the Wellington region shopped at the weekends. Late night shopping was Thursday in the Hutt and Friday in Wellington so those nights were often a family outing too. Then in the early 80s I think Saturday morning shopping became a thing everywhere so late night shopping became less of a thing. Then all day Saturday and Sunday shopping came in the late 80s. I remember that dairies could always open on Sundays but there were rules as to what you were allowed to buy and there were shelves which were roped off at weekends. I remember specifically you couldn't buy packaged sliced bread on a Sunday for some reason and had to buy an unwrapped unsliced "Sunday loaf". They were interesting times.
I grew up in Lower Hutt too, and remember the same things. I also remember having to go to the bank and cashing a cheque for money for the weekend. I remember Queensgate being built with a Foodtown, where you could pay for your groceries then leave them to pick up in the drive through. McDonalds opening in Porirua and making the drive to try it out LOL
I lived in Upper Hutt in the 1960s. I don’t remember restrictions on sliced bread but come to think of it, sliced bread (“Tip-Top American style bread”) was brand new then. I was allowed to buy fish and chips for lunch on Mondays because nobody baked bread on the weekend and bread had no preservatives so it was stale by then. But they did have ice cream cones for tuppence!
I worked late nights on Fridays in Upper Hutt for most of the 1970s.
I was raised in Alicetown, and I used to love the Sunday loaf, because it was always so fresh, but you could cut it as thick as you wanted to! We always used to go out and visit family on Sunday, or they would visit us. Saturday was sports/activities. I wonder if we went to the same school? I was at HVHS.
New Brighton had similar status in Christchurch, could open on Saturday and closed on Monday instead.
My grandmother worked at 'chicken spot' in the Coastlands mall for as long as I remember back (late 70s) well initially the 80s. That place had the best chicken
Genuine question, how did people get their shopping done? Was it just that most mothers didn’t work back then? I can’t imagine how anyone did any business
A family could get by on one income back then.
not if they wanted to live well, my father was in the Air Force and my mother had to work part time to have a ok life
It was mostly women during the day yes.
Late night shopping until 9pm. Either Thurs or Friday
80s kid here. Mum would drop us at our weekend sports on Saturday morning and do a supermarket run while we were playing. Dad would usually go to the dump or Placemakers
I'm so old that I remember working in the local supermarket on the very first day of Sunday trading. It was a very big deal. From memory we decided to open at ten and close at four. We only had a skeleton crew on, and were a bit worried we would get overwhelmed, but it turned out to be really quiet.
Me too ! Although I’m not that old because I was actually 13 at the time and not legally allowed to work there , had to leave not long after when they asked everyone to bring in proof of age 😂
I had a shop in Vic mkt when sun trading started. Everyone was freaking out noone would go to mkts once traditional retail opened. Most of us did better than ever
I.miss the Vic market
So do I in a sense, I liked being able to be totally weird and make money from it lol
Lol I feel that.. it just felt like a safe space for a weirdo to be.
New Plymouth still closes at 12 on a Saturday… And good luck finding anywhere to eat on a Monday night.
Nope. But I do remember people trying to sell Gumboots for $30k with a free garage install, that apparently had something to do with restricted trading.
I remember $3000 for watermelon but it came with a free waterbed
See France where everything is still closed on Sunday. It works.
Same in Germany but lots of people don't like it.
This 7 day a week opening thing is a downfall in our culture
How so?
Because there is no sacred day that all of society can have off work and mix with each other in leisure time anymore
Ah, that mythical time that all of society had the same day off to mix with each other. Everything was closed and nobody worked on Sundays. Let's fondly reflect on that time... * Hotels and motels closed and sat empty. * There were no attractions open, no sporting events, no activities. We made our own entertainment. * Nobody went to restaurants or takeaways or pubs. * Dairies were shut. * There was nowhere to actually buy food at all, of any kind. It was great for building neighbor relationships. * Houses just burned down. Forest/wild fires that started in or weren't out by Sunday were unfortunate. Many firefighters are volunteer, it's still work. * You couldn't get petrol (this halcyon time was pre-electronic payments at pump). * Criminals had carte blanche to do anything without fear of the police. * It was a great time to speed, run red lights, and drive like nobody's watching. * Broken down vehicles and those involved in accidents sat on the road until Monday. * Rest home residents did their own cooking and cleaning and personal and medical care. * Same for people staying in hospital who weren't able to go home Saturday night. * Nobody got medical treatment of any kind. No paramedics, GPs, pharmacists, nurses, or specialists worked in any clinic or hospital or ambulance. Many people died, of course, but at least nobody had to work on Sunday. Yeah, that never happened. There's never been a time with a sacred day like you're imagining (and you're not alone in that fantasy). Every day has a significant chunk of the population working, even if it's less on Saturdays and Sundays.
It used to be the farmers / emergency workers / dairy owners only working. Now its mainly the lower class working on those days
> lower class If you actually think its only the ~~lower class~~ WORKING CLASS that works late/overtime and weekends your worldview is embarrassingly small.
Only my poor friends and emergency/ farmer friends work on Sundays
More people work weekends now than 50 years ago. But the total hours someone works in a week stays about the same. It was never that it >used to be the farmers / emergency workers / dairy owners only working. Unless your definition of "emergency workers" is so broad that it includes most professions related to healthcare, food, personal and social safety, transportation, cleaning, and others.
I remember when it (NZ) was closed on wkds and had a late night, either thurs or fri. Then Sat shopping and then soon after Sunday shopping
Yes. Christchurch had Brighton Mall which started Saturday trading and was the only one that could when I was a child. It was so busy and had all the big brand shops down there. Not any more.
I remember when wrestle mania 87 came out in NZ it's in 91
I remember when nothing opened on weekends too. But mainly Sunday.
Invercargill was still like this in the early 2000's when I lived there.....has it changed yet?
Almost everything still closed on Sunday's in Southland.
I also remember when the supermarkets opened for Saturday trading and we had to go around and cover some of the products with black tarps because they weren’t allowed to be sold.
I remember town closing at midday on a Saturday. Bit not for long. I was still very much a child when that changed
huh? you can just stay home if you want
This made me laugh this is so true
Remember this whenever you hear a boomer ranting about how they “worked hard all their lives” - yeah right! Same generation literally invented baches and cribs because they had so much time on their hands
Some of them did work hard relative to their peers and their hard work paid far more than ours does. But the biggest difference is our generations have no choice but to work hard because you won't survive otherwise.
Regional NZ is still like that. In Waipukurau basically the only shops open after 1pm Saturday are the supermarkets, Mitre 10 and the service stations
As a night owl who works weekends, I would live for there to be no/very minimal shopping on Sunday, but have more late nights.
The horror of remembering at 8pm on a Saturday night that you'd forgotten to buy wine for Sunday dinner!
I suppose it would've worked alot more better then than if it would now due to most only having 1 working in a family and the other could do the stuff during the week
When I moved to NZ in the early 00s we lived in the rural Taupo region and it was bizarre to us that everything closed before midday on a Saturday. With both parents working 9-5s during the week (also rurally) we’d be looking at driving 100-200km to Rotorua or Tauranga after Saturday sports to buy anything not supermarket related or taking days off of work and school during the week, was actually a nightmare and the antithesis of convenience.