A trade union leader says the profits made by businesses flouting Easter trading restrictions should be confiscated.
With the exception of dairies, restaurants, pharmacies and petrol stations, shops caught trading on Good Friday or Easter Sunday can be fined $1000.
Some have said that they will defy the law this Easter anyway, and by Friday evening the Department of Labour was reporting that 19 out of 27 retailers checked by inspectors were open and trading.
The head of the National Distribution Union, Robert Reid, says that the penalty is not enough and that, just as the proceeds of crime are confiscated by the courts, so too should the profits of those caught trading over Easter.
Mr Reid says that retail workers are guaranteed only three and a half days off a year by trading restrictions, and that the law needs better enforcement.
Too costly to close - music store
A Department of Labour spokesperson would not say which retailers were checked on Good Friday, or what they sold, because, he said, prosecutions were being considered. The stores in question did not however appear to qualify for exemptions.
The Wellington branch of music store Real Groovy - one of 32 businesses convicted of opening last Easter - earlier said it would break the law again this year.
Manager Pet Johnson says that closing on two trading days would put financial stress on the business, though they'd consider closing, he says, if the fine was bigger or if staff members didn't want to work over Easter.
Tourist towns
Some tourist areas, such as Queenstown, are allowed to trade on specified public holidays during Easter.
However, the head of Auckland's Newmarket Business Association, Cameron Brewer, says all tourist towns should be to apply for exemptions if they are supported by the local community.
A bill allowing individual communities to choose whether shops could open on Easter Sunday was defeated at its first reading in Parliament last year.
