Some of Wanaka's businesses opened their doors yesterday, flouting the Easter trading laws.
Tourist towns Queenstown and Taupo have exemptions allowing them to trade, but Wanaka is required by law to close.
Wanaka Chamber of Commerce president Leigh Stock said yesterday he had not stepped outside his business, a hotel, legally able to trade on Good Friday, so he did not know which, if any stores were open.
Most retail shop owners were reluctant to say over the telephone if they were open, but calls to several stores in the tourist town found them open during usual business hours.
Yes, Photo and Digital owner Steve Worley said he had no worries about opening for the day, as he had every year in recent years.
Retailers should be able to trade because it was a recession, and retailers needed every penny they could get, being closed was confusing to his customers, and New Zealand was a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic country and we should not impose our religion on others, he said.
Wanaka was a tourist town and the Easter weekend was one of its busiest. Many tourists in town needed photographic goods.
Wanaka retailers had already taken the Government to court over breaching the rules, and the Government had had to back down, he said.
The Easter trading rules had no teeth, were outdated, unevenly applied and "just silly", he said.
They could be changed as easily as the give-way rules were, if Parliament changed its voting system from a conscience vote to a party vote, he said.
He did not think a Department of Labour inspector had been in Wanaka yesterday, although the department said compliance officers worked across New Zealand, checking if retailers were sticking to the rules. They would be out tomorrow, too.
Compliance officers visited 38 shops and found 22 were open contrary to Easter trading rules.
No further comment was available last night as prosecution action might follow, a spokeswoman said.
Last year, the Labour Department visited 54 retailers throughout New Zealand on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and found 39 shops trading when they should not have been.
Most shops should be closed on Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Anzac Day until 1pm.
Retailers with exemptions include dairies and service stations allowed to sell essential items and pharmacies.
Businesses providing a service, such as restaurants and hairdressers, can open but not sell products. Garden centres can open only on Easter Sunday.
Retail businesses and garden centres in Dunedin and Mosgiel were closed yesterday, with only some of the exempt businesses - mainly cafes, service stations and dairies - open for business.
Oderings stores in the North Island and Christchurch defied trading laws and stayed open yesterday. Director Darryn Odering said it was a "no-brainer".
The $1000 fine was no deterrent, and Good Friday had signalled the start of the company's annual sale and had been its busiest trading day since 1970.
There was no response to calls yesterday to Oderings in Dunedin.
