The Coles supermarket in Warrnambol, Victoria, has announced it has ended 24-hour shopping after demand failed to materialise.

The store reverted to trading ‘just’ 18 hours a day as of last week, from six o’clock in the morning until midnight. The failure of 24-hour trading has been attributed to small businesses having become more efficient at competing with the major multiples.

Or perhaps there simply aren’t enough people who desire to go shopping at 3 in the morning to justify keeping a supermarket open.