Difficult times are also ahead for the German retail trade: Rising energy prices are likely to cause operating costs to skyrocket, and many stores are also suffering from a shortage of staff. Thomas Gutberlet, Managing Director of the Tegut food retail chain (around 290 branches with around 7,700 employees), is therefore in favor of shorter opening hours – throughout Germany.
According to a report in the “Lebensmittelzeitung”, Gutberlet therefore wrote a letter to the governments of the 16 federal states in which he presented his proposal. His reasoning: “In the short term, a reduction would help to save energy. In the long term, it would make the retail trade more attractive again.”
The head of the company based in Fulda, Hesse, is not yet more specific. “Basically, it’s about bringing the topic of shop opening times back into the conversation and renegotiating with the public,” he told the “Lebensmittelzeitung”.
However, the shop closing law in Bavaria could provide some guidance. Shops there have to close at 8 p.m., while in the other federal states many shops have been open longer since the closing time for shops became a state matter in 2006.
There is only one exception in Bavaria for “digital micro-supermarkets” – i.e. markets without sales staff in which customers scan their purchases themselves.
But providers in other federal states are also considering shorter opening times again. A self-employed businessman from Baden-Württemberg now closes his 16 Edeka branches every Wednesday at 1 p.m. instead of at 8 p.m. as before.
The reason for this, however, was not primarily the energy crisis, but the personnel situation. His employees are “at their breaking point,” said Hieber.
Source: “Food Newspaper”
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