![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Image-22-1-1024x768.jpg\")
Jane Ding, Executive Director of Sign\u00e9 Local \u2013 a Quebec-based retailer specializing in locally designed and manufactured products \u2013 inside Montreal\u2019s Eaton Center, March 9, 2026. (Deirdra Danovitch, CityNews)<\/p>\nShoppers in Quebec may soon have more time to browse stores on the weekends. <\/p>\n
Starting Wednesday, a one-year pilot project will allow retailers to keep their doors open until 9 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays instead of the current 5 p.m. closing time set by rules introduced in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that for small businesses and local businesses, it\u2019s good to always be flexible and try to be more available to clients, to their needs,\u201d said Jane Ding, the executive director of Sign\u00e9 Local, a Quebec retailer specializing in locally designed and manufactured products.<\/p>\n
Jane Ding, Executive Director of Sign\u00e9 Local \u2013 a Quebec-based retailer specializing in locally designed and manufactured products \u2013 inside Montreal\u2019s Eaton Center, March 9, 2026. (Deirdra Danovitch, CityNews)<\/p>\n
Ding said their store, which is in Montreal\u2019s Eaton Centre, is eager to partake, adding two hours Saturday and an hour Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re open to the idea of testing it out, at least for now. We want to try to be more flexible and see if there are clients reacting to that change,\u201d Ding said. <\/p>\n
She added that clients often remain inside the store as it nears 5 p.m., asking for additional time to grab goods, emphasizing the need to extend operating hours on weekends. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of foot traffic because we\u2019re in the metro area so there is still a lot of people even when we\u2019re close to 5 p.m.,\u201d Ding said. \u201cSo I believe we can catch more clients if we are open or flexible on that part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regulations in the \u201990s were originally designed to protect workers\u2019 work-life balance and help smaller businesses compete with larger retailers.<\/p>\n
For Ding, this pilot project lifting those regulations is a welcome change. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo compete with all the online that is always available 24 hours, we can maybe see a change of maybe more foot traffic, people coming into our store if we\u2019re open more late,\u201d Ding said. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Image-25-1024x768.jpg\")
Inside Sign\u00e9 Local \u2013 a Quebec-based retailer specializing in locally designed and manufactured products \u2013 in Montreal, March 9, 2026. (Deirdra Danovitch, CityNews)<\/p>\n
Some malls, including CF Carrefour Laval, have already tested later hours and business groups say the change could boost local spending, while creating more weekend job opportunities, especially for students. <\/p>\n
After taking to the streets with the news, many Montrealers reacted positively.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith school and stuff, it\u2019s for sure great that stores are open later,\u201d said one Montrealer. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt leaves people much more time to do their things, especially those who work,\u201d added another.<\/p>\n
One even noted that stores in Newfoundland stay open until 10 p.m. all days of the week.<\/p>\n
But not everyone was in agreement, especially those who have experienced working retail.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs someone who used to work in retail, we hate that,\u201d said one person. \u201cHaving extra shifts, business wise, is going to hurt us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want out of the shops,\u201d added another. \u201cI find it very tiring, so if they\u2019re open until 9 p.m., I\u2019m already in my bed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ding agreed that the extended hours could be less liked by employees at stores with higher staffing demands.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepending on certain stores and staffing, they are going to be either happy or not,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Quebec is currently the only province in Canada that regulates retail hours year-round. <\/p>\n
The pilot project will run for one year as the province evaluates whether the extended hours should become permanent. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that it\u2019s going to work out as a whole, for everybody,\u201d Ding said, adding that it\u2019s vital for businesses to update their operating hours to keep the community informed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shoppers in Quebec may soon have more time to browse stores on the weekends. Starting Wednesday, a one-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-525427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}