Shops closed for the holidays? The experience of a large supermarket chain: “It can be done”

No shopping and spending at least for six days a year: Christmas, Easter, May Day, August Bank Holiday, New Year’s Eve and Boxing Day. This is the Fratelli d’Italia proposal presented to the Chamber by the new group leader Galeazzo Bignami.
The law would concern shops and supermarkets but not public establishments such as bars, restaurants, pastry shops or sales points inside airports and service stations. For violators there would be a fine of up to 12 thousand euros and for those who keep the restaurant open for two holidays in a year, the restaurant would also be closed for one to 10 days.
The proposal has sparked a heated debate with, on the one hand, those who argue that it is a liberticidal law while, on the other, those who speak of the legitimate demands of workers. Keeping shops closed not by choice, but by necessity.
The proposal has been endorsed (actually for a long time) by the Alì Supermercati group, 118 shops between Veneto and Emilia Romagna, 4 thousand employees, one billion and 400 million euros in turnover.
It was the founder of the company Francesco Canella, who passed away at the age of 92 last January, who established that all company-owned sales points would remain closed on Christmas Day, Santa Stefano, January 1st, May 1st and Easter (on August 15th instead works half a day).
“The decision to close our stores during the holidays was born precisely to respond to the need of those who work with us to have free time at particularly significant moments of the year – explains Gianni Canella, president of Alì Supermercati to AGI – during Over the course of the year, 30% of our stores close on Sunday, while just under 70% open only in the morning. Only a residual part of our supermarkets work all Sunday because they are located in particular contexts.”