For several months, many customers have noticed that their Gifi store no longer opens on Sundays, or only during reduced hours. This change is not due to a uniform national decision by the brand, but rather a tangle of local rules, prefectural refusals, and economic difficulties that compel Gifi to reassess its operations store by store.
Gifi and Sunday Work: A Tightening Legal Framework
In France, Sunday rest remains the principle for non-food businesses. Gifi, as a bazaar and decoration brand, does not benefit from the permanent exemptions enjoyed by food stores, garden centers, or DIY stores located in certain areas.
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To open on Sundays, each Gifi store must obtain a specific authorization. Two mechanisms coexist: the prefectural exemption, granted on a case-by-case basis, and the mayor’s Sundays, a system that allows municipalities to authorize up to twelve Sunday openings per year for retail businesses.
The case of Tarbes illustrates this mechanism well. The Gifi store on Route de Pau had opened its doors on Sundays for several months without a valid authorization. The operating company, Mont Blanc Services Thonon, submitted a request for exemption to the Hautes-Pyrénées prefecture in May 2022.
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A prefectural order in November 2022 denied this exemption. A gracious appeal was filed in February following, but the situation reflects a recurring pattern: the brand attempts to open, the prefecture refuses, and the store must comply.
The recent changes in Gifi’s Sunday opening hours reflect this tension between the brand’s commercial desire and the local regulatory framework, which varies greatly from one municipality to another.
Prefectural Exemptions and Mayor’s Sundays: Why Gifi is Treated Differently in Different Cities
The territorial logic explains why a Gifi store can open on Sunday in one city but not in the neighboring city. Prefectures evaluate each request based on their own criteria: impact on local commerce, location in a tourist or commercial area, competition with other brands.
Since 2023, several prefectures and municipalities have reviewed the number of Sundays allowed for non-food businesses. Some municipalities have reduced the number of mayor’s Sundays granted, going from a dozen to a few concentrated during holiday periods. Others have maintained a more flexible framework.
The result is a patchwork of Sunday hours across Gifi stores. Some no longer open at all on Sundays. Others have shifted to limited afternoon openings, a compromise that allows them to remain within a socially acceptable framework while capturing part of the weekend customer base.
- Stores located in international tourist zones (ZTI) or commercial areas sometimes benefit from permanent exemptions, but Gifi is rarely established there.
- Stores in city centers or classic peripheries depend on the mayor’s Sundays, the number of which varies each year according to the municipality.
- Stores that have received a prefectural refusal, like the one in Tarbes, have no leeway until a new order is issued.
Gifi’s Economic Difficulties: Sunday Closure as an Adjustment Variable
The issue of hours cannot be isolated from the financial situation of the brand. Gifi has been going through a complicated period for several years. The pandemic slowed down the activity of physical stores, and the network has experienced internal turbulence that has affected its operations.
In this context, Sunday opening represents an additional payroll cost that not all stores can absorb. Working on Sundays involves pay increases and specific scheduling organization. For a store whose Sunday revenue does not cover these additional costs, closing becomes a rational management decision.
The ongoing reorganization of the Gifi network reinforces this logic. Some stores are operating in a transitional regime, and investing in Sunday exemptions for a point of sale with an uncertain future makes no economic sense.
Sunday Afternoon Opening: Gifi’s Intermediate Strategy
Rather than a complete abandonment of Sunday, Gifi has adopted a focus on afternoon openings in several stores. This format reduces Sunday working hours (and thus payroll costs) while maintaining a commercial presence during the busiest time slot.
This approach reflects a broader trend in the French non-food retail sector. Brands are adjusting their Sunday hours based on the actual profitability of the time slot, rather than simply aligning with the competition.
Field feedback varies on the effectiveness of this strategy: in some areas, Sunday afternoons generate significant traffic, while in others, customers have already turned to online alternatives or to food brands open without restrictions.
Gifi’s Sunday closure is therefore not a fixed national policy, but a mosaic of local decisions dictated by regulation and profitability. Each store navigates the available authorizations, its own financial health, and its future within the network. To know if a specific store opens on Sunday, the only reliable method remains to check the hours displayed in-store or on the brand’s website.