The recent liberalization of shopping days to include the option of opening up on Sundays is very welcome.

The rule banning the opening of outlets on Sunday had become rather threadbare in recent years.

Many years ago, Bay Street was set up to benefit from the inclusion of a hotel within the complex and so allow the outlets to open on Sundays.

In more recent years, the rule had seen more and more inroads made in it - some supermarkets were opening on Sundays as a matter of course, while others did not.

And of course the open markets in Ta' Qali and in Marsaxlokk, to name but two, had made a mockery of the last vestiges of the never on Sunday rule.

One other good thing about this liberalisation is that it was carried out in full consultation with GRTU as representing the outlet owners.

The upshot is that outlet owners can now opt to open up on Sundays, regardless whether they are in a tourist areas or not, as long as they then do not open on one day of the week. Those then who cannot afford to close on a weekdays pay a small amount and can open seven days a week.

It is easy to see how this legislative measure will impact on the Maltese public. With an increasing amount of women working, and with the many extra-curricular activities children attend to, it is difficult to see how a family can carry out its shopping without using Sunday to do so. In fact, a visit to any of those supermarkets which open on Sundays shows families shopping together, without the frenetic hustle and bustle that seem to accompany weekday shopping.

This is, of course, a far cry from the Malta of, say, a generation back, which was more based on the small corner shops that on big supermarkets. Even without this latest relaxation of shopping rules, the small corner shops, the grocers, were already on their way out.

Much as one regrets the disappearance of the small corner grocer, and the unique atmosphere they engendered, this is the march of history, against which we cannot do anything much.

Obviously, one has to see now how this liberalization will pan out, whether it will be as effective in the big towns as well as in the small rural communities. It may be difficult for the single owner to afford opening up on Sundays and then closing for one day a week or paying to keep open seven days a week.

On the other hand, of course, there is the incessant competition between the big supermarkets. With all the supermarkets which have come on stream in recent months (and maybe others yet to come) one seriously wonders if they can all be cumulatively sustainable. A few years back, when we faced more or less the same situation, some foolishly engaged in 'beggar they neighbour tactics 'which ultimately did no good to anyone and considerable harm to all.