{"id":220849,"date":"2024-04-05T14:54:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T14:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/05\/german-chain-tegut-under-pressure-by-law-closing-businesses-on-sundays\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:19:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:19:14","slug":"german-chain-tegut-under-pressure-by-law-closing-businesses-on-sundays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/05\/german-chain-tegut-under-pressure-by-law-closing-businesses-on-sundays\/","title":{"rendered":"German chain Tegut under pressure by law closing businesses on Sundays"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Who doesn\u2019t love Sundays? The last day of the week can mean different things for different people\u2014whether it\u2019s time for laundry or for a good old Sunday roasts.<\/p>\n

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In Germany, Sundays are sacred. The country considers them rest days, not just for people with white- or blue-collar jobs, but also for establishments (with only a handful of exceptions). Germans take the practice so seriously that Sundays are protected by the constitution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Retailers have found a few ways around it, so people aren\u2019t devoid of options on their rest day. Supermarket chain Tegut, for instance, has run automated stores without any human workers for the last four years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But now, even those won\u2019t open after a German court upheld a ban impacting Tegut\u2019s stores\u2014even those without human staff\u2014forcing them to remain closed on Sundays. In December, it ruled that Tegut\u2019s 40 automated shops will not be excluded from the Sunday rest law, or Sonntagsruhe, <\/em>even in the absence of workers.<\/p>\n

A member of Tegut\u2019s management board, Thomas St\u00e4b, described the move as \u201centirely grotesque\u201d in an interview with the Financial Times<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> since the shops were more like \u201cwalk-in vending machines\u201d than actual supermarkets. Business on Sundays also contributed to up to 30% of the shops\u2019 weekly sales as few establishments are typically running.<\/p>\n

German courts have made exceptions to the law, and relaxed some of its stricter impositions which required shops to wind down by 6:30 p.m. on weekdays. One of the main arguments made by Germany\u2019s service sector Verdi union against the likes of Tegut\u2019s automated shops is the need for guaranteed shopping- and work-free days for all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, one expert told Fortune <\/em>that if new technology makes it possible for people to access goods on Sundays without requiring any human labor, that\u2019s an opportunity worth tapping into.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law\u2019s intention is rather that people should rest on Sundays. If technological innovations make it possible for people to buy individual goods without, conversely, other people having to work for hours to do so, the potential should be exploited,\u201d Jan B\u00fcchel, an economist who specialized in digitization at the German Economic Institute, told Fortune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He added that the court\u2019s efforts to safeguard Sundays as an overall concept, as opposed to workers, seemed questionable. Another consideration when limiting the number of establishments that run on Sundays is that they are free to charge higher prices to consumers. But if those rules are relaxed, it may benefit cash-tight Germans.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore alternatives to kiosks and petrol stations could create more competition and lower prices, which would benefit consumers. Whether consumers then buy individual goods on Sundays or prefer to take a complete rest would at least be up to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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