Government permission handed down earlier this year for stores to open on Sundays has resulted in little more than a trickle of shopowners seizing the opportunity to move to a seven day week, but retailer Kristi Grayston predicts there will slowly be a shift in that direction.

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Kristi Grayston has seen the future of retailing. And it is one that changes the nature of the traditional Bermuda Sunday.

"My vision for retail is that [Sunday shopping] is something that will grow, that everyone will participate in, and it will become normal," the owner of speciality gift and paper shops Pulp & Circumstance, and P&C Papers, told The Royal Gazette this week.

Ms Grayston, co-chair of the Chamber of Commerce's retail division, said Sunday shopping didn't take off overnight largely because staffing issues hamper many stores from extending their hours.

So far, 112 retail outlets hold licences to be open on Sundays ? 70 of those are annual licences, and 42 are temporary Sunday trading permits issued since the rule change took effect in April. Roughly 60 percent, or most of the annual licences, are held by grocery stores, according to the Registrar of Companies. All Sunday trading permits come up for renewal on September 30.

Supermarkets were given the green light to open on Sunday afternoons about a decade ago, after complaints were lodged with Government citing a competitive disadvantage because smaller food outlets (2,500 square feet and under) were already able to be open seven days a week.

Small tourist-related stores have also long been able to open on Sundays.

Most other retailers were barred except for occasional permission for Sunday openings around holiday periods.

While retailers clamoured for year-round permission, telling Government the already depressed sector needed to have the flexibility to be open more hours, there has been a tepid response to the law change.

"It has not been a hot topic of conversation lately, and there has not been a big proportion of stores doing it, " said Mrs. Grayston, who has the ear of most of the retail community given her Chamber position. "The fight was to have the right," she said. "People want to know that they can."

Mrs. Grayston said she suspected a high number of the permits issued since April have been to stores wanting to be able to open on the occasional Sunday, but not on a weekly basis. "Nobody really wants to commit; it is hard to get people to work on a Sunday."

She predicted there will be a gradual move in that direction. "It will only take one big store to do it, for others to follow. Nobody wants to be the first but it will eventually take off."

Mrs. Grayston was one of the early retailers in line for the Sunday licence but she doesn't plan to use it except for periods when consumer traffic may make it worth it. "We'll be open in December," she said, with most other retailers also opening every day of the week in the weeks running up to Christmas.

Under the law, retailers cannot force employees to work on Sundays. As well, Mrs. Grayston pointed out that owners of small and medium-sized businesses often man the operations meaning they are already working six days a week, and count on Sundays to catch up on administrative tasks.

One owner who jumped at the chance to dig right into work on a Sunday was Jeff Sousa, of Sousa's Landscape Management on Middle Road, Southampton. "I've been working every Sunday since we opened up in April," he told The Royal Gazette after being the first in line for the Sunday trading licence when it became available.

Mr. Sousa doesn't think it will be that long before other garden centres and home improvement outlets like Gorham's True Value and Masters Ltd. follow suit.

"We are listening to customers tell us what they need; people want to have a choice," he said.

Since opening up on Sundays, Mr. Sousa has been very pleased with receipts.

"We have the ideal roadside location," he added, with Sousa's being located directly across from the Heron Bay Marketplace, which he said is buzzing from the moment it opens. "The parking lot is packed." Bearing that in mind, he's put in a moongate right off a pedestrian crossing so that grocery shoppers can walk over the street and into the garden centre from the Marketplace parking lot.

Location is one thing but Mr. Sousa said being open on Sunday has also proved a success because of a surge in people taking on home and garden projects, largely spurred on by home and garden programmes from cable television channels like HGTV and TLC.

"Every Sunday we've had a flow of people. We've had the Attorney General, MPs, husband and wives that are working the rest of the week. The response from the general public has been strong, especially as more and more people realise we are open."

Mrs. Grayston said she's been one of those taking advantage of Sousa's Sunday hours, and she thought stores that cater to home improvement projects would be amongst the first retailers to come around to the idea of a seven-day schedule.

Some storeowners said opening on Sundays is only seen as a seasonal opportunity. Others don't see it as an opportunity at all ? at least not right now.

Makin' Waves has been opening on Sundays for a decade, but only from May through Labour Day. "It is very profitable for us but we wouldn't do it all year," said part-owner Stuart Joblin, describing the store as a "predominately Summer oriented business frequented by locals and visitors alike.

Aberfeldy Nurseries, a rival of Sousa's, doesn't plan to open up on Sundays, although it has profited from extended hours, opening Monday and Wednesday evenings under a special '5 after 5' promotion giving customers a five percent discount from 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

"We don't plan to [open on Sundays] at the moment...even plants deserve a day off," said Robert Baron, the nursery's president.

Mark Stearns, store manager of hardware store Masters Ltd., said the store is always looking for opportunities to better serve customers but said staffing issues would make it difficult to add Sundays to their schedule. "The hardest thing is the labour force. You have to have qualified people on the floor to tell people about the products and qualified people want to work Monday to Friday, 9 to 5."

Mr. Stearns said he and other managers already worked Saturdays because of the week-end staffing crunch. "It is something we will have to look at, but there are difficulties," he said.

Gorham's True Value, which sells hardware and garden items, did not return a call asking about their Sunday plans.