Two years for trading on a Sunday
Retail & leisureeditor-in-chief
According to a report by PwC the consequences of such a ban will be a PLN 10 bln reduction in retail trade turnover, a loss of over 36,000 jobs and a reduction in state taxes of PLN 2 bln. “The fashion industry will lose out most as a result of the new regulations because clothing sales are impulsive. Also restaurants and cafes in shopping centres will not able to make up for the loss of Sunday trade on other days of the week,” says Mateusz Walewski, a senior economist at PwC. DIY, household appliance and audio & video equipment stores will be relatively unaffected because such purchases are usually planned and can be moved to another day. According to PwC around 49 pct of retail staff support the ban but their main reason is not their desire to spend this day with family but low overtime pay for working at weekends and on holidays. “Smaller shops and service outlets will also lose money as a result of the ban because the larger tenants will be closed,” argues Jeremi Mordasiewicz, a management board advisor at the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan. “All retail trade in towns on the border that focuses on German, Ukrainian and Belorussian customers will also die out. Such customers are not going to come over to Poland on a Tuesday or a Wednesday to do their shopping.” According to data from the Civic Development Forum, German shoppers spent around PLN 15 bln in Poland. “Nineteen out of 28 EU-member states do not impose any limitations on the Sunday retail trade, including all the new members of the European Union. Hungary, which introduced such a ban, withdrew it a year later. We should be learning from the mistakes of others,” says Rafał Trzeciakowski, an economist from the Civic Development Forum. “According to the bill, breaking the ban is not only punishable with a fine but also with up to two years in prison. It’s the same punishment for drunk driving or distributing child pornography,” he adds. The Polish Council of Shopping Centres is collecting signatures for a petition against the introduction of the ban on Sunday trade with 75,000 signatures collected within 20 hours of its launch from shopping centre customers. Boxes full of the signatures have already been delivered to the Prime Minister’s Office.
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