Supermarkets rebrand as bus stations and book clubs to evade Sunday trading ban

After the government closed a loophole that had allowed retailers to evade Poland’s Sunday trading ban, some supermarkets have tried new tricks to remain open, including rebranding themselves as book clubs and bus stations.

Several franchises of Intermarché, a French supermarket group, invited shoppers to buy, borrow or read a book while also getting their groceries. Another store in the same chain made the most of its location next to a bus stop, but received a visit from the police for its troubles.

The Sunday trading ban was introduced by Poland’s national-conservative government in 2018, following a campaign by the Solidarity trade union and Catholic church.

There are, however, a number of exemptions to the rules, and many big chains took advantage of one of them by starting to offer postal services. This allowed their outlets to remain open on Sundays.

Under pressure from Solidarity, the government closed this loophole with new legislation that came into effect at the beginning of this month. Now stores can only remain open on Sundays if postal services account for more than 40% of the revenue of a given premises.

Big chains pledged to comply with the new rules, but there was speculation as to what kind of new tricks they may try to continue evading the rules.

Some branches of Intermarché, which has 230 stores in Poland, have been the first to do so. One of its franchises, in the town of Cieszyn, took advantage of the fact that it is located next to a bus stop.

The supermarket erected signs outside saying “Bus Station” and describing its entrance hall as a “waiting room”. This was intended to allow it to benefit from the exemption allowing shops operating at bus and train stations to remain open on Sundays.

However, the idea appeared to have backfired yesterday, the first Sunday on which it was in operation, as the police were called following a complaint from Solidarity activists who were protesting at the supermarket.

A police spokesman confirmed that officers had intervened in response to a complaint about the “sale of alcohol at a newly established bus station”. Alcohol cannot legally be sold at bus and train stations.

Alfred Bujara from the local Solidarity branch called the renaming of the shop “a huge scandal” and “a fiction”, vowing to fight against this “latest way to force employees to work on Sundays” and calling for the shop to be inspected and fined.

“Announcing that a shop is a station and then selling alcohol there is a parody and a crime,” Bujara added, quoted by Wiadomości Handlowe. “This chain is showing that it…ignores Polish law. In its own country [France] it respects the law, and in Poland it exploits workers as a cheap labour force.”

Meanwhile, at least five branches of the same chain are trying another way around the tightened legislation in order to stay open on Sundays. They are advertising a book club open seven days a week, offering customers the chance to borrow, buy or read a book while also shopping for food.

This time, the ploy is based on an exemption in the new law to allow companies in the fields culture, sport, education, tourism and leisure to operate on Sundays, reports Gazeta.pl.

“Combine pleasure and utility with us! Read a book and do your shopping,” promised one of the stores on social media, promising to be open every Sunday. “We are a readers’ club in which you can read, borrow and buy a book. Let’s support culture,” read another.

While it was unclear how exactly club membership would work, one of the participating stores posted photos of a corner set aside for readers, offering a 15% discount on all book sales.

Grupa Muszkieterów – the retail group to which Intermarché belongs – has not yet issued a statement in response to the latest controversies. However, last month its press office said that it “does not interfere” in the decisions of its franchisees, who are “independent Polish entrepreneurs”.

Main image credit: podworka/Twitter

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.