Mandatory Weekday Closures for Large Supermarkets... Both Industry and Customers "Satisfied"

22 Stores in Daegu and Cheongju Switch Mandatory Closure Days to Weekdays
"Improved Customer Convenience" Praised
Nearby Commercial Areas Also Revitalized

It has been reported that consumers' shopping convenience has significantly improved in local governments that switched the mandatory closure day of large supermarkets from Sundays to weekdays. It has also been found that the surrounding commercial districts have revived accordingly, drawing attention to whether the shift of mandatory closure days to weekdays will spread to other local governments such as Seoul in the future.

At a large supermarket in Yullyang-dong, Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungbuk, an employee is handing out bottled water and explaining the change of closing days to customers arriving by car.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the industry on the 8th, this year, 14 large supermarkets in Daegu and 8 in Cheongju have changed their mandatory closure days to weekdays. The mandatory closure regulation for large supermarkets was introduced in 2012 with the purpose of preventing infringement on small local businesses and protecting the health rights of supermarket workers. However, as criticisms arose that mandatory weekend closures of large supermarkets did not revive small local businesses but rather caused inconvenience to consumers, Daegu City changed the mandatory closure day to a weekday in February, followed by Cheongju City in May.

By supermarket, Lotte Mart Daegu Yulha branch changed from Sunday to the second and fourth Monday of each month, while three stores including Seocheongju, Sangdang, and Cheongju branches changed their mandatory closure day to Wednesday. E-Mart changed the mandatory closure day to Monday for six stores including Daegu Chilseong, Manchon, Wolbae, Seongseo, Banyawol, and Traders Wholesale Club Bisan branches, and to Wednesday for the Cheongju branch. Homeplus changed seven stores in Daegu, including Suseong and Namdaegu branches, to Monday, and four stores in Cheongju, including the Ochang branch, to Wednesday. Summarizing by local government, Daegu changed the mandatory closure day to Monday, and Cheongju to Wednesday.

So far, the industry's evaluation of the shift of mandatory closure days to weekdays is positive. An industry official said, "We have received a lot of feedback from the local governments and customers that shopping convenience has greatly increased." However, there is still a cautious atmosphere regarding whether the shift to weekdays has led to increased sales. Since the change to weekdays has only been in effect for about four to six months at most, sales trends need to be observed further.

Concerns that the shift of mandatory closure days to weekdays might negatively impact surrounding small business owners have also been partially alleviated. According to the 'Analysis of Daegu City's Mandatory Closure Days' presented by Professor Cho Chun-han's team from Gyeonggi Science and Technology University at the Korean Distribution Science Association Summer Convergence Conference on the 17th of last month, retail and restaurant sales in Daegu city increased by 25.9% over the three months from February to April, when the mandatory closure days began. It was analyzed that as large supermarkets operated normally on weekends, the floating population increased, leading to a sales boost for retailers and restaurants as well.

Professor Cho said, "The analysis results of Daegu's mandatory closure days show an example that the shift to weekdays induces increased consumption within offline commercial districts." It is reported that Professor Cho's team has not conducted the same investigation for Cheongju City.

Meanwhile, the 'Distribution Industry Development Act,' which regulates the operation and mandatory closure days of large supermarkets, allows local governments to set mandatory closure days according to their ordinances. Besides Daegu and Cheongju, places such as Goyang and Hanam in Gyeonggi Province also operate closure days on days other than the second and fourth Sundays.