Marks and Spencer to open at midnight on Christmas Eve for first time

Marks & Spencer will open more than 100 of its stores at midnight on Christmas Eve to allow customers more time than ever to pick up their turkey and trimmings on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

The telegraph 06 Dec 2012

It is the first time that the department store has opened its branches so early the day before Christmas and follows the failure of retailers to persuade the Government to relax Sunday trading laws and let large shops extend their opening hours on December 23.

The retailer said it expected Christmas shopping to spread over both days "as a result of fewer trading hours available on Sunday the 23rd".

Large stores can only open for six hours on December 23, even though hundreds of thousands of families usually choose the day to stock up on groceries.

Some 103 stores, including 54 of its smaller "Simply Food" shops, will open from midnight. Customers will be able to order food to collect from the store in the early hours as well as dropping in to browse.

Sacha Berendji, its director of retail, said: "We know that the days leading up to Christmas are some of the most hectic for our customers.” Due to Sunday trading rules, we can only open for six hours on one of the busiest days of the year.

"We hope that these early bird hours on Monday will ease the pressure and give busy shoppers a bit more time to pick up Christmas food orders or last minute presents."

Waitrose stores will also open earlier. More than two-thirds of its branches will open at 7am on Christmas Eve, an hour earlier than usual, and will remain open until 6pm.

Most of its supermarkets will stay open until 10pm the previous week, with some not closing until 11pm. The company said it would open its branches for 4,700 more hours than usual in total.

Question 1 (2 Points) Indicate whether the following questions are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.

a)       Marks and Spencer has never opened its stores so early on December 24^th.

b)       Most people do last minute shopping for Christmas food.

c)       Retailers tried to convince the Government to let them open longer hours on the day before Christmas Eve.

d)       Waitrose stores usually open at 6am.

Question 2 (2 Points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a)       Why will Marks and Spencer change its timetable on Christmas Eve?

b)       What will Waitrose do?

Question 3 (1.5 points)Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions below.

a)       Seller par 1

b)       Foodstuff par 3

c)       Simplify par 5

Question 4 (1.5 points)Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a)       Sacha Berendji, its director of retail, said: "We know that the days leading up to Christmas are some of the most hectic for our customers.

Sacha Berendji said that ………………………………………………………………..

b)       The company said it would open its branches for 4,700 more hours than usual in total.

The company said “Our branches ……………………………………………………

c)       Large stores can only open for six hours on December 23, even though hundreds of thousands of families usually choose the day to stock up on groceries.

Large stores can only open for six hours on December 23, despite …………………

Question 5 (3 points)

Write a short essay (120 – 150 words) about the following topic.

Christmas incite people to buy items they do not really need.