By Kim Tae-gyu
For Kim Mi-yeon, a 32-year-old office worker in Bundang, south of Seoul, it has been a Sunday ritual to visit a nearby discount-chain supermarket with her husband after church to go grocery shopping for the following week.
Yet, she was surprised as all the nearby discount outlets were closed on May 13 due to regulations forcing them to shut at least two Sundays every month.
On an even more negative note, many nearby “super supermarkets,” better known here as SSMs, did not open under the same rules that went into effect earlier this year in a host of areas with the aim of boosting traditional markets suffering the declining sales due in no small part to discount chains and SSMs.
``All three discount chain stores I went to did not open and neither did the SSMs. I expected that at least one of them would not shut because there are no traditional markets near my home,’’ Kim said.
``Should I have to buy what I need from the expensive convenience or mom-and-pop stores? Obviously, this is not good for shoppers. What’s the use of the policy of closing discount chains on Sunday?’’
Kim is not the only who has complained because more than 40 percent of the country’s three discount chains ― E-Mart, Home plus and Lotte Mart ― closed their doors, as did 300 SSMs of Home plus and Lotte Mart across the country.
Residents in such areas as Bundang and Sihwa in Gyeonggi Province were not happy because traditional markets are far from their homes.
People in Bundang have to drive at least half an hour in order to reach a traditional market.
``Many of my neighbors are couples who work in Seoul. It is bad to deprive them of the right to shop on Sundays for dubious reasons,’’ Kim said.
The discount chains have challenged the regulations to little avail. They say that the measures are not only against the customers but also national interests as many Japanese and Chinese visitors snap up items at their superstores.
There are others, however, who say that the steps are working just as planned.
On April 22, when some of out-of-town superstores and SSMs closed for the first time under the new regulations, the Agency for Traditional Market Administration said that small shops and conventional markets saw a double-digit jump in sales.