Plan ahead for cruise ships visits

I read your article about this year being a record breaking cruise season (4 March 12). I would like to suggest that Lerwick businesses and cafes etc. plan ahead and make sure their shops are open for visitors, especially on the 29th July when four cruise ships will be in port.

This is a Sunday when most shops would normally be closed, but I suggest they should be open. It only makes economic sense, when perhaps a thousand or more visitors may be in town.

If local people knew the shops would be open, they might be tempted to do some shopping in town that day too. You can’t get everything in Tesco or the Co-op! Plus; there will be a great atmosphere and vibrancy about Lerwick.

Not so, if the shops are all shut!!!

This subject has been raised before – shops not being open for visitors. As someone who has recently moved to the isles from the Glasgow area, the closure of most shops on Sunday or a half day on Wednesday is very old fashioned and ridiculous. Where I come from, you can get anything on a Sunday, and there are no half days any more. Whether you agree that this is right or not, it is a fact of life.

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It would seem to me that it would be a simple matter to check the cruise ship arrivals schedule to maximise sales in the shops. I know that staff need a day off, but maybe not when the town will be busy??? Planning for this influx of visitors now might reap the financial benefits in the summer season.

Dorothy O’Brien
Brae