The campaign to allow larger retailers to open on Sundays and public holidays has received a generally favourable response from the community and the Island’s churches.The Chamber of Commerce are now ready to write to the Government and ask for the law restricting opening hours to be amended.Royal Gazette readers have a chance to weigh in on the subject by responding to the newspaper’s online poll seeking the views of the public.Chamber of Commerce executive director Joanne MacPhee and chairman of the retail division Paula Clarke, speaking to The Royal Gazette last week, said they have polled their retailer members. They have also attempted to hold town hall meetings but have been unable to find a church who is prepared to debate the issue.Some small business operations who are permitted longer opening hours have expressed concern about the increase in competition, but Ms Clarke said the change would result in a culture of shopping on Sundays and that would benefit all retailers.Traditionally, it is the churches that have led the opposition to longer opening hours. Ms MacPhee said: “We sent 99 e-mails to every single church in Bermuda, and asked for comments. We have had three written letters and one e-mail back.” Despite the low reply rate, she said the response has been generally positive.She reported that there was some concern that working on public holidays and on Sunday could become mandatory for employees. Ms MacPhee said the changes could impact new employees but those people already working in the retail industry were employed to work Monday though Saturday and should not have to work if they did not want to.Ms MacPhee reported that the Chamber’s retailer poll had a 43 percent response rate to the question: ‘Do you think that business owners should have the right to operate their business as they wish on Sundays and Public Holidays other than Christmas Day and Good Friday?’ Some 96 percent had said ‘yes’ while just four percent said ‘no’.The Chamber also asked how the amendment would change the retailers’ business model. ‘Positively’ accounted for 65 percent of the responses, while four percent said it would impact ‘negatively’ and 31 percent said it would have ‘no impact’.Ms Clarke said: “We believe we have done our due diligence. We’ve ticked all the boxes, and its time to work on our response to Government, and move forward with the legislation.”