Large retailers and discount stores open their supermarkets earlier

Wholesalers and grocery discount stores are reacting to the store closing at 7 p.m. to combat the coronavirus and the expected high customer frequencies before the holidays: many supermarkets will open at 7 a.m. in the morning.

Specifically, starting next Monday, Coop will open all supermarkets and food departments in department stores at 7 am, as Coop announced to the AWP news agency on Thursday. In Migros, too, many branches open earlier than usual, but the earlier opening hours generally do not apply. For example, all stores in central Switzerland opened immediately and those in the cantons of Bern, Solothurn and Aargau opened at 7 a.m. on the days immediately preceding the holiday, as a Migros media spokesperson explained upon request. In the other regions, however, Migros will only open its doors earlier in individual branches.

According to the media office, Denner, a subsidiary of Migros, is investigating where the above opening hours make sense due to the expected frequencies. Lidl, for its part, will extend the opening hours of all branches from December 21 until the end of the year, as announced by the discount store.

The goal of the extended opening hours in the morning is to better distribute customer traffic throughout the day, explains Coop, for example. Migros also asks customers to use less-frequented hours to shop. He further explains that he has noticed a change in buying behavior in recent days: the size of purchases has increased. Therefore, the request to obtain more durable products and gifts as soon as possible has paid off, concluded a spokesperson for Migros.

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