Wanaka retailers are being asked to play by the rules on Easter and Anzac Day this year, following a nationwide reminder from the Department of Labour that shops must keep their shop doors shut for two and a-half days this long weekend.
With Anzac Day falling on Easter Monday this year, businesses without an exemption for the holiday must not open until 1pm on Monday.
Shops must stay closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday under the Shop Trading Hours Repeal Act of 1990.
Many Wanaka retailers have previously thumbed their nose at the law.
Wanaka Chamber of Commerce president Leigh Stock said he would be reminding members of their obligations at a meeting tonight.
They were all aware of the rules, he said.
"The rules are the rules and we will abide by them."
It was an individual decision for business owners as to whether they would open for the holidays, Mr Stock said.
There was less attention on Wanaka retailers regarding Easter trading when the biennial Warbirds Over Wanaka event was not held and there were not as many visitors,, he said.
Department of Labour deputy chief executive Lesley Haines told NZPA earlier this month retailers which did not comply with the Act and did not have an exemption risked prosecution.
A Department of Labour spokesman yesterday said the department's enforcement policy was not up for discussion.
"Unfortunately, we can't make any comment on whether or where our officials might be investigating," he said.
Queenstown retailers have an exemption to trade under the Act because of the resort town's tourist status - an anomaly held up as unjust by Wanaka businesses.
Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean has run a long-standing - and unsuccessful - campaign on behalf of Wanaka retailers to try to change Easter trading laws.
Her latest attempt at a private member's Bill to address anomalies within the Act was pulled from Parliamentary debate in September last year, when it did not have enough support to pass its first reading.
However, for one long-standing Wanaka retailer, the fuss over Easter trading is unnecessary.
Helwick St retailer Jim McRae, who has operated his Jim and Libby's shop for the past 24 years, said there was no question of opening on the Easter statutories.
"We'll open on the Saturday, but we've never once opened for the Good Friday ... Why would you? Everyone needs a break," he said.
