A TOY store in a prime location is staying shut on Sundays — because the owner is against opening on the day of rest for religious reasons.

The Entertainer is based at Middlebrook Retail Park in Horwich, which is always packed at weekends, and especially busy on Bolton Wanderers match days as it is right next to the Reebok Stadium.

Yet the store refuses to open on Sundays — even when Bolton Wanderers took on Manchester United and the car park was extremely busy with thousands of potential customers.

The owner of the chain, Gary Grant, is a Christian and believes Sunday should be a day to be spent with family.

And staff at the Middlebrook store support his views and enjoy having a day off at the weekend, unlike many other employees in the retail sector.

Bosses from the successful national business, which is expanding, say they will not open on Sundays out of principle.

The store does not know how much money is lost by not opening.

Manager at the Middlebrook store, Tim Denwood, said: “We believe in keeping Sundays special.

“If we open on Sundays it would just become another day and not special anymore.

“People appreciate having Sundays off, whether for religious reasons or not.

“Retailers have always pushed to open on Sundays to increase their trade, but it is not something that we need to do.

“Everyone here supports it and we believe it is a good thing.

“We have had positive feedback from our customers and they will come back at other times. We are open until 8pm on week nights so it is convenient for people to pop in after work.

“We are the largest independent toy shop in the country. It is a successful business even though we don’t open on a Sunday.

“We don’t know how much trade is lost by not opening on a Sunday, but of course if we did we would make a lot more money.

“But Mr Grant does not worry about money lost on a Sunday and he is not going to change that out of principle.”

Shops were first allowed to open on Sundays for the first time in 1994.