Sunday lockdowns may return in Europe

Belgium: Carrefour agreement, Sunday opening

The idea of ​​opening stores on Sundays has gained new momentum in the Belgian retail market. Carrefour has decided to join the ranks of those expanding Sunday opening hours with 40 hypermarkets and 43 supermarkets: from January 18, 2026, their stores would be open from 8 am to 12 pm — that is, in the morning hours — on Sundays. The decision was preceded by union negotiations, and guaranteed employee benefits and workplace protection — excluding the franchise model.

Carrefour was not the only one to join the queue: several independent or franchised stores are also open on Sundays, and most chains such as Intermarché or Delhaize have already made similar decisions. Thus, the Belgian market is increasingly shifting towards free Sunday opening hours — at least among the larger chains.

The dilemmas: financial reality vs. job protection

The picture is not uniform in the Belgian market either. The long-established department store chain Colruyt Group continues to oppose Sunday opening hours. According to their reasoning, the average shopping basket on Sunday is much lower — for example, 27 euros, while on weekdays it is 35 euros, and on other days it can even reach 70 euros. According to the company, with such a low basket value, operating on Sundays is not profitable from a business perspective.

The debate is therefore not just a moral or social issue: economic calculations, labor costs, customer volume and shopping habits form a mosaic of many elements.

What happened in Hungary: there has already been a similar attempt

The 2015–2016 store closure experiment is also an important lesson for the Hungarian market. At that time, most retail stores were required to be closed on Sundays, except for a few small shops, gas stations or markets. The aim of the measure was to protect the rest time of commercial workers and support family life on weekends.

However, the dissatisfaction of the population, the inconvenience of shopping and the loss of revenue for commercial chains provoked such strong resistance that in April 2016, the parliament revoked the rule — the shop closure was lifted, and Sunday opening hours became free again.

The case clearly shows: shopping habits, market demand and social expectations can change quickly — and it is difficult to maintain a rule that serves all interest groups in the long term.

European mosaic: no single recipe

There is no single recipe in the EU today either uniform rule for opening shops on Sundays. Each member state regulates according to its own system: in some countries there is a complete ban (for example, for larger stores), in other countries only exceptions are allowed (small shops, tourist zones, petrol stations), but there are also markets where Sundays are free, depending on customer needs.

This diversity can be a market advantage for those retailers who can react flexibly – but it also hides legal and labor risks: if the regulation is subject to frequent changes, it can affect logistics, labor management and revenue stability.