A Hamilton business owner wants the City to expand its Sunday shopping offerings.

Shannon Philpott, owner of Holidae in the Washington Mall, thinks being open on the seventh day of the week could improve his profits.

“We are located in the Washington Mall, so we are subject to their hours,” he said. “Even during holiday periods, we open and close when they do.”

Friends from the United States were shocked to learn that the mall was closed on a Sunday.

“In America, Saturday and Sunday are the days when stores make most of their money,” he said.

Some people have argued that Bermuda just does not have a culture of Sunday shopping, but Mr Philpott is not so sure.

“Whenever I come in to work on a Sunday to do something like inventory, you cannot find any parking on Reid Street,” he said. “There must be people in the area. If the mall was open on a Sunday, I would probably not make millions of dollars, but I could make maybe an additional $500.”

Mr Philpott and his wife, Lindsey, opened the apparel store in November 2023, selling their customised-brand of leisure wear. Many of their items have Bermuda as their logo.

“We sell whatever you would wear on your holiday,” Mr Philpott said. “That holiday could be just sitting up watching Netflix, or it could be actually going on vacation. Our clothes are quality. They will last a long time. We like to say we elevate the everyday.”

The couple had business experience running seasonal pop-up shops selling candles, T-shirts and other items. They were doing well enough that they decided it was time to expand.

The challenge came in getting the money together to open a full-time business. To outfit a shop, and to make their first order of clothing, they needed $250,000.

They had previously borrowed a much smaller amount for their pop-up from the bank with no issue, but this time the bank said no.

“I get it,” Mr Philpott said. “I had no collateral to borrow against.”

They were referred to the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation, but the loan from it would not have covered what they needed. In the end, they found an investor.

“I was not nervous the day we opened,” Mr Philpott said. “I try not to worry about things. I had worked out all the numbers and I knew that I would at least break even. Of course, things can always go wrong.”

There were no disasters, however. Holidae has been doing fantastically.

“We have customers from 14 to 80,” Mr Philpott said.

Mr Philpott is a stickler about customer service, and encourages his employees to engage with customers on the shop floor. He does not like seeing them standing statically behind the cash desk.

“The quality of customer service in Bermuda has come down a lot in the last couple of years,” he said. “I do not know what has caused that. Bermudians are the friendliest people in the world, but the customer service is not always there.”

He said a positive experience in the store brought people back later, and caused them to recommend the store to others.

“We really haven’t done much marketing,” he said.

They do have a successful Instagram page @shopholidae, which has caught the attention of shoppers all over the world.

However, the high cost of shipping goods from Bermuda to an overseas customer is an obstacle.

“A lot of people do not want to spend the $40 in shipping it would cost to get the item to them quickly,” he said. “I can see where they have clicked on an item to buy it and got all the way to the payment stage, then abandoned their electronic shopping cart.”