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Story: Shops

Sunday trading cartoon, 1989

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Sunday trading cartoon, 1989

As shop trading hours were liberalised during the 1980s, Saturday trading returned. The next obvious target was Sunday. Calls from churches that this should be a day of rest (or worship) did not carry much weight, as most New Zealanders no longer attended church.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: B-143-017

by Eric Heath

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Shops – Unions, pay and working hours, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/21225/sunday-trading-cartoon-1989 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 6 April 2010, updated 19 February 2026.