PARIS — Paris department stores Printemps and Galeries Lafayette expressed disappointment after City Hall rejected their bid to lift a ban on Sunday trading.
In a joint statement Monday, the retailers said Mayor Bertrand Delanoë had turned down an application to classify the shopping district around Boulevard Haussmann as a tourist zone, which would have given them the green light to open every Sunday like stores on the Champs-Elysées.
Such a move would have boosted tourism and the local economy by generating additional revenue and creating at least 600 jobs, they argued.
The stores expressed hope that, failing a blanket permit to open on Sundays, they would be granted additional exemptions for certain occasions. The department stores are authorized to open five Sundays a year under the existing regulations, a spokeswoman for Printemps noted.