Opportunist

Costco under fire for ignoring Sunday opening guidelines

By Park Si-soo

The Korean unit of American discount mall Costco Wholesale has come under fire in Korea for ignoring guidelines calling for discount malls and big retailers not to open every other Sunday.

An ordinance to this effect enacted early this year was recently deemed illegal by a local court due to “irregularities.” Local authorities are moving to amend these to reinstate the ordinance, which was adopted to protect the livelihood of owners of smaller retail stores.

Industry insiders said the Washington State-headquartered company declared last week that it won’t abide by the guidelines and opened its eight stores ㅡ three in