Daegu relaxes major supermarket chain’s weekend closure mandate

The fourth from the right is Daegu City Mayor Hong Joon-pyo. Major supermarket chain’s mandatory Sunday closure day will be allowed to change to weekdays. [Photo by Yonhap]

Daegu Metropolitan City has become South Korea’s first metropolitan city to abolish the country’s mandatory weekend supermarket shutdown rule that first took effect in 2012 to protect mom-and-pop stores from losing sales to the country’s major retailers’ supermarket chains.

Eight smaller district offices of Daegu Metropolitan City and the districts’ retail industry officials on Monday agreed to make necessary revisions to the country’s 10-year-old mandatory supermarket Sunday closure rule’s ordinances as soon as possible.

Following the changes, large discount and supermarket stores and so-called super supermarkets (SSM) in Daegu Metropolitan City, obliged to close their outlets on the second and fourth Sunday of every month, will be allowed to change the mandatory closure day to weekdays.

Daegu would be the first to make such a change among all seven metropolitan cities of Korea, and this is expected to trigger a debate in other metropolitan cities in Korea over whether to follow suit of Daegu.

Currently, 17 large discount stores and 43 SSMs in Daegu are subject to the mandatory Sunday closure regulation.

The city office started reviewing the change in regulations after receiving a public suggestion in July for improvement to the public convenience amid questions about the effect of the rule initially devised to protect small and traditional markets at a time people are enjoying online shopping.

Daegu City Mayor Hong Joon-pyo has made effort to persuade representatives of small and traditional markets to agree with the relaxation and finally succeeded in reaching a consensus.

“By changing the mandatory closure day to a weekday, the city will provide convenience to shoppers,” said Hong.