Will we ever see Sunday Trading in France?

Things always appeared very different across the Channel. 

While the UK has opened its shops on Sunday since 1994, the French have managed to keep most of theirs closed. The French had always seemed to grasp the notion of work-life balance - in British imagination at least. For most of the French people I know, the 35 hour week has been achieved by mid day on Friday...so the weekend starts here. Saturday is a busy day, shopping and household chores and on Sunday, everything stops... it is a family day, it is the boulangeries' busiest day for viennoiserie and patisserie. This is followed by a leisurely lunch and a walk in the country. But things are changing.

But now 20 years after the British battle was settled, a similar quarrel is bubbling in France, where different groups of workers take to the streets of Paris to argue both sides of the case. 

Recent protests about Sunday Opening

Shops in designated tourist zones can open, as can garden centres and small owner-operated shops. Those selling food are permitted half a day's trading. For the most part, though, major retailers are forced to close all day, which has angered many business leaders, and some of their workers too.

Castorama and Leroy Merlin - two major French DIY chains - have chosen to defy the ban, opening their doors to shoppers on the day of rest, and their employees have backed them. They have held "Yes Weekend" demonstrations to argue for their right to work.

Leroy Merlin defies the Sunday trading laws

With consumers now wanting shops to open on Sundays, high unemployment and the strong unions arguing against Sunday trading it will be very interesting to see where this debate goes....