Does your modal storefront in the Empire have operating hours that respect the local diurnal cycle? Or is the statistical norm 24/7 operations with appropriate staffing arrangements and compensation?
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Well, that’s an interesting question. It’s also a really very complex question, covering multiple cultures, species, and an awful lot of history.
Let me start out by saying that 24/7 (which would be 24/9, notwithstanding that the 24 is actually 26) operations were very historically contingent and are long since dead in modernity, wiped out by the same effect that ended an awful lot of physical shops –
Namely, the only things that it’s worth going to the store for are things that require either consultation with an expert, or the desire to browse, test, and otherwise check out the goods in person. This category is, on the whole, a small part of most people’s total purchases, and one on which (a) they intend to spend time, and (b) don’t usually need immediately and right now, and it’s also the area in which physical shops continue to thrive.
For everything else, including the known items you might suddenly feel a need for at 3 am, there’s Mastercard the dataweave, and the ability to order anything and everything on-line for immediate drone delivery, no store-fronts or sophonts required.
Now in a typical (ha!) region of Eliéra, traditional (insofar as they aren’t defined by anything except loose consensus) business hours mean that most businesses are open from Midmorn through Twilight (in Earth terms, around 10 am to 6 pm).
Certain particular types of store may vary this: grocers, butchers, and the like often open early, even as early as the Mistful hour (7 am), to handle collections of the day’s groceries (…all the dogs trotting to the store in the early morning light, with their little carts and bundles of punch cards…). Some others shift their opening hours lateward because they have a lot of customers who drop in on their way home from work. But those are typical hours.
Your local culture may vary.
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Ohmigosh, the mental image that that conjures up in my mind is so freaking adorable! Then again, the Bandals(?) are such Good Puppers anyways, aren’t they?
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