Easter is one of the best times of the year! Most get a long weekend, chocolate, and time with family and friends.
But it always brings a bit of confusion around what’s open and what’s not.
The official public holidays are Good Friday and Easter Monday. Easter Sunday isn’t one, which shocked half the office - but it still comes with trading restrictions.
On Good Friday, most places are shut - shopping centres, liquor stores, and in some places, your trusty supermarket. It’s best to check the signs at your local supermarket or social media for their opening hours during the period.
However, service stations, pharmacies, dairies, hairdressers, restaurants, and cafes can open, but if you’re heading out, expect a public holiday surcharge – staff have to be paid time and a half.
If you’re keen for a drink, you’ll need to order food with it. Under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, venues can only serve alcohol to people who are dining, not just popping in for a pint.
So yes, if you’re heading to the Crusaders and the Blues game at Apollo Projects Stadium, you’ll need to get a burger with that beverage.
Saturday, thankfully, everything will be open as normal. So if you need to panic buy toilet paper or get those hot cross buns you forgot about, you’re sweet.
Easter Sunday is back to restricted trading, but there are a few sneaky exemptions. Some councils have adopted a local Shop Trading Policy that allows more businesses to open
Bigger cities like Wellington and Christchurch are among the council districts where shops cannot open unless exempt.
Most of Auckland is included in this, aside from Auckland’s Parnell Rd from 10 am to 6 pm.
As we discovered earlier, Easter Sunday isn’t a public holiday, so it means there should be no surcharge for places that open.
While we’ve worked out what is open and what isn’t, there may be some stores that decide to close for the weekend to give their staff a well-deserved break
