shopping in the summer goes into full swing this week.

Months of planning by the Chamber of Commerce has resulted in nearly 20 Hamilton shops taking part in the venture.

The bulk of major boutiques and department stores on Front Street will be keeping their doors open until 9 p.m. every Wednesday until summer's end.

HA&E Smith's is the only department store not participating. However, it will be keeping open its neighbouring gift shop, the Treasure Chest.

The department store's president Mr. Roger Davidson did not believe staying open late would be worth the expense, taking into account wages and electricity costs.

"I am not convinced having music and dancing in the streets is going to get people into the shops,'' he said.

In order to drum up business, he suggested more effort be put into providing more "accessible'' parking for shoppers and encouraging hotel visitors to come into town by offering a "convenient'' transportation system. He was also worried that closing off Front Street would deter visitors staying at hotels.

"I am grateful for the cruise ship traffic, but I would like to see more business out of the hotels,'' he said.

Mr. Davidson, however, has not ruled out staying open past 5 p.m. later in the season.

"I will certainly be keeping a close watch on how it goes,'' he said. Other Front Street retailers gave the idea the thumbs up and believed it would boost revenue.

Hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, "Harbour Nights'' promises "world-class shopping'' and "exciting street entertainment''. There will also be street vendors showing off the wares of shops in Hamilton which are not taking part.

It will be the ninth season that the Bananas chain of souvenir and T-shirt shops has stayed open late in the summer, owner/manager Mrs. Rhonda Casling noted.

She pointed out her stores, in fact, stayed open late every night, including weekends.

"It gives staff a chance to restock shelves. We have also seen heavy trade at nights,'' she said, adding that the new Smuggler's Reef store had attracted a lot of local business.

Mrs. Casling said "Harbour Nights'' would create the right atmosphere and felt it would further increase late night sales.

"I hope more nights will be added in the future,'' she said.

AS Cooper's managing director Mr. Peter Cooper said he decided to take part because "it's a community effort and I think it will be a lot of fun.

"We tried staying open late a couple of years ago but it did not work -- it was not a total effort by everyone.'' Only the ground floor of his department store would stay open late, he added.

Trimingham's main store manager Ms Gayle Stewart said the company was confident "Harbour Nights'' would be a success. The Bermuda Railway Company on Reid Street was also taking part, she said.

"I think the Chamber of Commerce has gone to a lot of trouble to get everyone together,'' she said. "It was a difficult task.'' Front Street will be closed to traffic for the duration of the weekly "open-air shopping festival''.

The chamber said that next week it would be releasing more details on the venture and a full list of the shops taking part.

The Royal Gazette understands the list also includes Gosling's, Astwood Dickinson, Archie Brown and Son, English Sports Shop, Irish Linen Shop, Bees Knees, Pitt and Co., Calypso and Peniston Brown among others.