Challenged by Transport Minister Terry Lister to open their doors on Sundays, Hamilton retailers have in turn called on Government to drop restrictions on their business hours.The Minister threw down the gauntlet as he announced the 2013 arrival of a 4,000-passenger cruise ship, the Norwegian Breakaway, to serve the Island from New York.Saying that ferries currently brought cruise visitors to Hamilton on Sundays when there was nothing for them to do there, Mr Lister said either Hamilton businesses open on the traditional day off or the ferries will take tourists somewhere else.Paula Clarke, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce’s retail division, said the city’s shop owners were ready to talk business.“We would welcome any conversation that the Minister of Transport would have with us,” she said. “So far he hasn’t approached retailers individually or through the Chamber of Commerce.”However, Ms Clarke added: “We would need the Minister of Transport to ensure that there would be sufficient and efficient transport from Dockyard to both Hamilton and St George’s. To date, that has not been the case.“There have been several instances where there has been insufficient transport to move cruise ship passengers out of Dockyard.”At the moment, she said, retailers are confined to afternoon hours although Sunday licensing fees were waived by Premier Paula Cox, to “ease the burden” on a strained business sector.In September, local retailers hit the 39th month of decreasing sales.“We do get visitors to Hamilton on Sunday morning, but large stores are not allowed to open,” Ms Clarke said. “So there is a lot to discuss with the Minister.”David Hamshere, head of TESS Ltd the operating company for Cecile’s, the English Sports Shop, Levi’s, Lusso and Marks and Spencer called for restrictions to be simply dropped.“If the Minister is sincere and not looking for a whipping boy, why not talk about it? Why not say ‘we’re open for business seven days a week?’” Mr Hamshere charged.The company’s shops open for limited Sunday hours during Christmas shopping season, but Mr Hamshere ventured “a tentative yes” on opening for Sundays during the summer cruise ship season.Saying the Minister had been “shooting from the hip” in his remarks, Mr Hamshere added: “It’s still an excellent point. I do believe that if he wanted to have a discussion, that could easily be arranged through the Chamber of Commerce, where he could put forward his case and encourage retailers to acknowledge that they have got this 4,000-plus passenger ship coming in, and the ferries will come in with all these people.”The question, he said, was: “Why license people to open on Sunday at all? Why not get rid of that and get rid of the operating hours? Let’s have the freedom on a Sunday to open at 10am, and if there’s an objection from churches, let Minister Lister address that with them. We have open minds about it.”The veteran retailer, who has been in business 51 years, said he could understand why regular staff wouldn’t like working on Sundays.“But I am also cognisant that visitors to Bermuda are important, and maybe as an alternative we could get a few extra people in who would want to earn extra.“There are all sorts of cost equations. We pay more on Sundays. You’ve got to look at it in terms of cost and return. But if we don’t try it, we’ll never know. We need every tourist we can get to survive. It’s just a question of finding out how staff feel about it.”Mr Hamshere also questioned the logic of opening shops at 1pm, when most visitors to the Island would be looking to relax over lunch.Brown and Co General Manager Nicole Warren, also a board member at the Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged that under the present system, tourists are coming into Hamilton on Sundays before her business can serve them.“They come in early, and nothing’s open,” she said. “There are restrictions by law on business hours from 12pm or 1pm to 5pm. So if you come into Hamilton on a Sunday, tourists will be here by 10am with nothing to do. Phoenix Centre opens at 12 noon, and Brown and Co opens at 1pm, and we do very well, but there are restrictions.”