Gloomy Sunday?

The battle in the past 10 years between retail chains and trade unions about Sunday shopping seems to settle for a draw in Hungary. However, the debate continues on a European level. In Hungary, Sunday shopping was popular for a while, because people in general work longer hours and they are forced to do their shopping at weekends. Later this necessity turned into a practice, a family pastime. Act 23 of 1992 established the legal framework for Sunday work in retail and at the moment about 100,000 people work in retail every Sunday.

Those who oppose Sunday shopping say that the present practice ruins family life as shopping becomes the Sunday programme, while those who work on Sundays cannot spend time with their families. Social organisations do not support multinational companies’ opinions and often prove that this retail practice does not suit retail employees’ interests. On Sundays and in the night hours 13 percent of retail turnover is realised in Hungary, which equals about 30 percent of the turnover on an average day. If this revenue would be lost, many people were made redundant. Nevertheless, if Sunday shopping was prohibited together with changing the supply chain and increasing the share of Hungarian products, the end result would be completely different.

Small enterprises and farmers would have a chance to make a living in agriculture and new jobs would be created. In this case, the effects of contraction need to be examined in advance and a new market strategy has to be established. Those who do not react in time might have to give up their market positions or even leave.