The head of French supermarket chain E.Leclerc has expressed strong reservations with regard to opening on Sundays, citing overtime wages as a key reason for his reticence, LSA-Conso.fr has reported.
Speaking at a RMC.fr/BFMTV.com conference, chief Michel-Edouard Leclerc said, "Generally, we have decided to say no to Leclerc stores opening on Sundays."
He added that only between 10% and 15% of stores do so now.
"There are certain supermarkets that would like to be able to open on Sundays, but overall, we say 'no' to this. There is not enough incentive to open on Sundays, given the overtime that must be paid to staff."
Leclerc's stance is against the current trend, as rival Carrefour is lobbying to have more stores open on Sunday. Retailer Auchan currently has 30 out of 140 stores currently open seven days a week, and a dozen Géant hypermarkets are as well.
The legal right of retailers to open on Sundays in France was allowed in 2015 through the implementation of ‘loi Macron', which permitted stores to be open on a certain number of Sundays throughout the year.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
