Entertainer is shut on Christmas Eve Sunday

LAST-MINUTE Christmas shoppers hoping to get a few more toys for the children won’t be able to pop into The Entertainer on Christmas Eve – because it falls on Sunday.

Founder Gary Grant is a devout Christian and has a firm policy of not opening his stores on a Sunday.

The company has 149 stores around the UK and stands to lose around £2m in sales by not opening on Christmas Eve – usually a lucrative day for toy stores.

The policy extends to the company’s five stores in Wales, at Queen’s Arcade in Cardiff, The Mall in Cwmbran, St Catherine’s Walk in Carmarthen, Austin Friars in Newport and Eagles Meadow Shopping Centre in Wrexham.

Mr Grant told the Mail on Sunday that closing the stores one day a week was important for families and that his 1,700 staff deserved a day off.

He said: “I have given the concept of one day in seven as a day of rest a lot of thought and I am not making an exception.”

He added: “Staff may well be working six days a week, and long days. They need a break.”

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw said: “Staff in retail work very long hours in the run-up to Christmas. Our members tell us they need time off to recuperate, as well as to spend time with their family and friends. .”

Mr Grant founded The Entertainer in 1981 and became a Christian 10 years later. He gives away 10% of the company’s £9ma-year profits to charity.

This is the first time Christmas Eve has fallen on a Sunday since 2006.