Cyprus-Forum.com

[brother]

Supermarkets: we’ll call ourselves kiosks to stay open as long as we want
By Alexia Saoulli


THE Cyprus Hypermarket Association yesterday threatened to register all its members as kiosks if the government continued to allow bakeries, fruit shops and kiosks to violate the law on opening hours.

“Six years ago, there was a small number of business, such as bakeries, kiosks and fruit shops, that started operating illegally and turning into hypermarkets,” said Association Executive Secretary Andreas Hajdiadamou. “Not only were they not reported, but the tolerance shown by the authorities encouraged many more similar illegal properties to open, with the result that today they exceed 2,000.”

Speaking to reporters at a news conference, Hadjiadamou said this phenomenon had repeatedly been reported to the Labour, Justice and Commerce Ministries, but that nothing had been done to stamp out the illegality.

“Strangely enough, when a hypermarket violated the law and stayed open for just a few minutes longer, the police reported or even arrested its owner directly. Unfortunately, the police have not shown the same zeal concerning the 2,000 or so properties that operate as hypermarkets and violate the law.”

He explained that the relevant law had two factors: set operation times and what goods a hypermarket could sell. According to him, bakeries, kiosks and fruit shops violated both.
Hadjiadamou told the Cyprus Mail it was not the association’s intention to have the 2,000 or so businesses shut down.

“We merely demand that they either stick to selling the goods that they are allowed to by law, or, if they want to sell other goods that are only allowed to be sold at hypermarkets, then they should be forced to close at the same times as hypermarkets. They can’t have it both ways,” he said.

He pointed out that the law stated hypermarkets had to close at 7pm every night, at 2pm on Wednesday, at 3pm on Saturday and remain closed all day Sunday.

“While the 2,000 bakeries, fruit shops and kiosks can remain open on a 24-hour basis, selling products that by law they are not allowed to, and the consumer – having no other choice – is forced to shop at double and triple the prices,” he said.

He pointed out that hypermarkets spent millions of pounds to obtain planning and building permission, to build car parks and employ thousands of people.
“This creates unfair competition and unequal treatment.”

In light of a situation that they say shows no signs of improving, the Association has decided to threaten to change its members’ status to that of kiosks “as a show of protest”, he said.

“Since everyone is doing what they want, we’ll turn our hypermarkets into kiosks. Hopefully, this will sensitise the government and raise awareness that something needs to be done once and for all.”

[devil]

My heart really bleeds for the big supermarket owners. They charge exorbitant prices, often for inferior merchandise. Example: a Morphy Richards food processor, sold in the UK for GBP 27 (VAT included at 18%) is sold chez Orphanides for CYP 60 (VAT included at 15%).

They really are profiteers.

In most countries, big supermarket chains pass the benefits of the economy of scale of bulk purchases to the consumer. Not here. Quite frequently I find things cheaper in the village than in the big supermarkets like Orphanides, Ermes, Chris C&C, Metro etc.

[brother]

I thought you would like that one, well i am playing the saddest song on the worlds smallest violin for them.