Inconspicuous masterpiece of Migros, Coop and Valora: Sunday holidays in retail have already been abolished

The Minister of Economy’s plan, made public by Blick, requires a review of the labor law regulation regulating exceptions to the ban on working on Sunday. An external consultation is planned for November.

Sunday was introduced as a day of rest by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in 321 AD. But in the Swiss retail trade, non-working Sunday has long been history.

More than 1100 small market supermarkets

Especially in the field of food, large companies such as Migros, Coop, Valora and Fenaco have found ways to sell them every day of the week: mini-supermarkets called Migrolino, Coop Pronto, Avec and Topshop have spread throughout the country and almost all serve their own food products. customers Monday through Sunday.

There are no official figures from the federal government or retail associations on this matter. However, a survey by SonntagsBlick and research on Google Maps allow an estimate:

Migrolino currently has 367 locations, 355 of which are open on Sundays. Fenaco’s Topshops has a presence seven days a week in 114 of 117 locations. Coop and Valora do not want to disclose how many Pronto and Avec stores are open each day. Assuming they have the same Sunday quota as their competitors, Avec has 359 stores with no days off, while Coop Pronto has 310 stores.

These four brands alone have more than 1,100 small market supermarkets. With Spar, Volg, Denner, BP Shop and other providers, at least 1,600 grocery stores opened in Switzerland on the previous closed day (see table). Ten or fifteen years ago it would have been a tiny fraction of that.

The boom was triggered by the public saying yes to the revision of the labor law in 2005. The voting booklet at the time said: “All shops located in public transport hubs, i.e. larger train stations and airports, should now be allowed to employ staff.” On Sundays.”

The Federal Council supported the proposal and promised that the revision would not question “the importance of Sunday as a day of rest”.

Is Sunday becoming a normal working day?

A razor-thin majority of 50.6 per cent followed the state government. In the following years, convenience stores multiplied like mushrooms and the sales areas at gas stations gradually grew.

Unions fear that further easing the Sunday working ban could again lead to unpredictable consequences. “History shows that retail companies take advantage of any liberalization, no matter how small, to make Sunday a normal working day,” says Adrian Wüthrich, President of the union umbrella organization Travailsuisse.

Unia also sees no need to further weaken the regulation. “We cannot allow the burden on salespeople to continue to increase,” says Leena Schmitter, co-head of the retail industry. Working hours in sales are already highly irregular and therefore more stressful than ever. “More work on Sundays worsens this development.”

The Swiss Retail Federation also welcomed the call to designate tourism zones in city centres. “We also support the necessary flexibility in store opening hours,” says Director Dagmar T. Jenni. However, the retail trade expects a regulation that will ensure that all stores in these regions are of the same length, especially in terms of product variety and store size.