Supermarkets closed on Sundays in 2026? After more than fifteen years of non-stop openings, the proposal has arrived from Ancc-Coop to return to six days of weekly opening, to cope with rising costs and margins under pressure. But immediately came the rejection from the rest of the large-scale retail trade, which considers the Sunday closure risky for consumption, businesses and employment in an already fragile economic moment. According to Coop estimates, Sunday closing could generate savings of between 2.3 and 2.6 billion euros a year for the entire large-scale retail trade system. But for many operators, those savings risk being more than offset by a loss of turnover and a weakening of competition.
A difficult 2025 for large-scale retail trade and the push towards Sunday closing
In 2025, sales volumes decreased, while fixed costs (energy, logistics, personnel) continued to grow. Margins have thinned and the search for efficiency has become an absolute priority. The closure of supermarkets on Sundays is seen as one of the most immediate levers to lighten budgets without reducing the overall service. According to estimates by the Coop Research Office, giving up holiday openings would allow the entire large-scale retail trade system to save between 2.3 and 2.6 billion euros a year. The main benefit would come from the cost of labor: on public holidays, salary increases range from 30% to 42%. Resources which, in the intentions, could be reinvested in promotions, more competitive prices and in better work organisation
Large-scale retail trade rejects the Sunday closing proposal
The harshest criticism of the shutters closed on Sundays comes from Federdistribuzione. President Carlo Alberto Buttarelli defined the proposal as anti-historical. Federdistribuzione represents companies in the modern food and non-food trade that develop an aggregate turnover of 86 billion euros, with over 18,600 sales points and approximately 225 thousand employees. According to Federdistribuzione, in a phase of weak consumption an initiative such as Sunday closure risks producing the opposite effect to the desired one, given that from the point of view of turnover, Sunday and Saturday remain key days. Then there is the competition from online platforms, which operate seven days a week and twenty-four hours a day. For this reason, for those who send the proposal back to the sender, the answer is freedom of action. Holiday opening is not an obligation but an option. Each company can choose whether to keep it open or not, without however influencing the entire system. On the same wavelength NewPrinces Group, which today controls Carrefour Italia and Crai.
From the Save Italy decree to today: liberalisations, weak consumption and a balance still to be found
Shop openings on Sundays and holidays were liberalized in 2011 with the Save Italy decree, in the midst of the sovereign debt crisis. The objective was clear: stimulate consumption, increase competition and facilitate economic recovery. At the time Confcommercio opposed it, fearing the impact on small businesses. Today, however, say the majority of operators, closing on Sunday would above all mean giving away market share to online, which operates in a much more favorable regulatory and fiscal context than traditional retailers. On the other hand, consumer behavior is also changing. The analyzes indicate that, if the reference supermarket were closed on Sunday, 38% of Italians would simply postpone shopping until another day, while only 33% would choose an alternative store. According to Coop, around one in three Italians already doesn’t go shopping on Sundays. A figure that reinforces the idea that sales would not be lost, but redistributed throughout the week.
The solution, for many, cannot be a one-size-fits-all rule. There must remain the possibility of adapting the service to the territory, the format of the point of sale and the type of customer. In an Italy that will grow little in 2026, with consumption expected to increase by just 0.3%, large-scale retail trade finds itself caught between high costs, digital competition and consumers who are increasingly price-conscious. The 2026 challenge for large-scale retail trade appears to be a mix of increasing efficiency, innovating services and defending the relationship with the customer in a context of fragile consumption and global competition.
