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At least one Wellington retailer caught opening at Easter says it has not deterred him from the practice.
Music shop Real Groovy is one of eight Wellington businesses caught flouting the Easter trading laws on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Manager Pete Johnson says the Department of Labour has fined the business a $1000 for each day it opened illegally.
But he says the store raked in tens of thousands of dollars worth of profit at the weekend, attracting around 800 customers a day, which is more than double the usual number.
And he says staff don't mind working because they are paid extra and there's a great vibe in the store.
Johnson says the concerts on at the weekend in the capital made business particularly viable.
In Wanaka, a retailer says he will continue to flout the Easter trading laws because they are discriminatory.
Labour Department inspectors have pinged more than 30 shops in the town for trading illegally on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Paper Plus Wanaka owner Brian Kreft says its unfair that Taupo and Queenstown businesses are allowed to open at Easter because they are classified as tourist towns.
He says those anomalies are ridiculous, because the world has changed a lot since the 1990 legislation.
Due to a lack of resources, Department of Labour inspectors only visited businesses in Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Napier, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
