The Gifi stores, specializing in decoration and household items, have gradually stopped opening on Sundays in most of their French locations. This closure is not an isolated commercial choice, but rather a specific legal framework: Sunday rest is the principle, and opening on Sundays remains the exception subject to prefectural authorization.
Collective agreement for non-food retail and Sunday rest
Gifi falls under the collective agreement for non-food retail. Within this framework, the weekly rest should preferably be given on Sundays. Working on that day is not mandatory for employees: it is based on voluntariness and requires either a collective agreement or practices formalized by the company.
This point is often overlooked. Even when a store obtains an administrative exemption to open on Sundays, it must also have an internal contractual framework providing for compensations: salary increases, compensatory rest, rotation organization. Without this agreement, the brand exposes itself to sanctions.
The business model on Le Bilan details the specific constraints Gifi faces in organizing Sunday work for its teams. The interplay between labor law and administrative authorization constitutes a double lock that many brands in the non-food sector struggle to overcome.
Prefectural exemption for Sunday work: the refusal criteria
Opening a business on Sunday in the non-food sector requires a request for exemption from the prefecture. The prefect grants or denies this exemption after reviewing several criteria. The case of the Gifi store in Tarbes illustrates this mechanism well.
In May 2022, the company Mont Blanc Services Thonon, operator of the Gifi in Tarbes, submitted a request for exemption from Sunday rest. The prefecture of Hautes-Pyrénées denied this request by decree in November 2022. A grace appeal was filed, then rejected in March 2023.
Reasons for refusal cited by the prefectures
The prefectures evaluate the request based on the impact on local competition, the salary conditions proposed to employees, and the reality of voluntariness. A refusal occurs particularly when Sunday opening would create a distortion of competition with neighboring businesses that comply with the closure.
Since 2023-2024, prefectures have tightened control over these exemptions. The requirements have become stricter, and brands that sometimes opened without formal authorization now find themselves compelled to close.
- The request must prove that the opening does not harm competing businesses in the same geographical area
- The voluntariness of employees must be real and documented, not just declarative
- The salary compensations (increases, compensatory rest) must comply with the applicable collective agreement
- The absence of fraud regarding partial unemployment or other social schemes is verified
Gifi and illegal Sunday openings: the precedents
Several Gifi stores have opened on Sundays without the required prefectural authorization. In Vienne, the CGT reported in 2021 that the stores in Poitiers and Châtellerault were opening on Sundays in violation. The labor inspection, already mobilized on suspicions of partial unemployment fraud in one of these stores, discovered these irregularities during its investigations.
In Tarbes, the store opened its doors on Sundays for several months before the prefecture formally rejected its exemption request. These situations create a recurring pattern: the brand attempts to open, faces an administrative or union refusal, and then closes.
These episodes have likely influenced Gifi’s national strategy. Multiplying local disputes is costly in legal fees and image, for uncertain commercial benefit on Sundays in the non-food sector.
Non-food sector and Sunday: why Gifi is disadvantaged
The Labor Code clearly distinguishes between food and non-food businesses. Food stores benefit from a legal exemption to open on Sunday mornings. DIY, gardening, or furniture stores sometimes have sector-specific exemptions.
Gifi, classified in the non-food retail, does not benefit from any of these automatic exemptions. The brand sells decoration items, tableware, small appliances, and leisure products. None of these categories are among the legal exceptions to Sunday rest.
Tourist areas and commercial zones: a limited lever
Geographical exceptions exist. Businesses located in international tourist areas, tourist zones, or commercial zones designated by decree can open on Sundays. Some Gifi stores located in these areas remain open.
The majority of Gifi outlets are situated in standard suburban commercial zones, outside these derogatory perimeters. For these stores, Sunday closure remains the rule, with no simple workaround.
- International tourist areas: opening possible, but few Gifi stores concerned
- Commercial zones with prefectural decree: some local exceptions
- Standard suburban zones: mandatory Sunday closure unless individual exemption
The closure of Gifi stores on Sundays results from a stack of constraints: a collective agreement that protects employees’ Sunday rest, prefectures that refuse exemptions with increased rigor, and a positioning in the non-food sector that excludes legal exceptions. Attempts to open without authorization have generated disputes without permanently changing the situation.
For customers, the consequence is simple: checking the hours on the brand’s website remains the only reliable way to know if a specific Gifi store opens on Sunday in their area.
