What do you do when you're a retailer who gets harassed by a "busy working man" for not being open at 7am? You go ahead and open at 7am.
That's what local retailer POP Canberra is doing.
Throughout December, leading up to Christmas Day, POP Canberra's store in Braddon will be open from 7am until 10pm, with the main aim of making it easier for the Canberra community and busy workers to get their Christmas shopping done before work hours.
"We're all really used to having late-night shopping on offer, but over the years we've come to realise that late nights don't necessarily suit all of our customers," POP Canberra founder Gabe Trew said.
"There's often after-hours activities for families, late-work meetings, or social events of an evening.
"So, we thought, 'Why not give early mornings a go?'."
The decision was prompted by a not-so-helpful potential customer who did turn out to be a bit of game-changer.
"I was approached by a local self-proclaimed 'working man' who said he was a busy man and wanted to get his Christmas gift shopping done outside of work hours, and he thought it was ridiculous that we were open at 9am on weekdays, even if we do close at 10pm and are open seven days," Gabe said.
"Then I got to thinking, 'Hang on a second, maybe that's ironically a genius idea'.
"We often head to the grocery shop early in the morning, so why not get the Christmas shopping done?"
And he's not put off by working 15-hour days.
"I don't know how I will feel at the end of December but it's worth giving it a go to see how the community responds," Gabe said, with a smile.
POP Canberra will be open from 7am to 10pm seven days a week from December 1-24.
The shop is at 27 Lonsdale Street, Braddon.
Customers can also buy locally-made POP goodies online with the POP Shop Local app, available for download now.
