Colruyt Group intends to open all Okay stores on Sundays
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Today, Colruyt Group announces its intention to open all Okay stores on Sunday mornings. The retailer aims to meet the demand of customers to be able to do their shopping on any day of the week. Okay is the fully integrated neighbourhood store of Colruyt Group, with a strong focus on accessibility and a wide range of fresh products, including freshly baked bread and rolls. This makes Okay the ideal concept for the group to respond to these changing consumer needs. In the coming months, the retailer will engage in close consultations with social partners. The exact date for the stores to open on Sundays will be communicated later.
Christophe Dehandschutter, Director Okay, explains: "The societal context is evolving continuously, and consumer behaviour has changed significantly over the past few years. Customers want to shop more flexibly, especially every day of the week, including Sundays. We see this as a continuing trend and the market evolving in that direction. As the market leader and the only Belgian retailer, Colruyt Group wants to respond to this need of Belgians and open all Okay stores on Sunday mornings. Today, we announced this to our employees and our social partners. In the coming months, we will engage in close consultations with all parties to further develop this plan. We look forward to welcoming our customers to their Okay store on Sunday mornings."
Okay is the fully integrated local store of Colruyt Group with 146 stores and 2,450 employees. As a local store, Okay strongly focuses on accessibility, allowing customers to shop quickly, affordably, and conveniently. The stores offer a complete range for daily shopping, with special attention to fresh products. Additionally, Okay is known for its wide selection of freshly baked bread, rolls and pastries.
Christophe Dehandschutter: “Customers who shop on Sundays are primarily looking for bread, rolls, and fresh products for that day or for Monday morning. These are precisely the assortments that Okay focuses on, making Okay the ideal format of Colruyt Group to meet our customers' needs"
Within Colruyt Group, other formats have already been opening their doors on Sundays. The 22 Okay City stores, the 3 Okay Direct stores, the 4 Cru markets, and several CoMarkt stores are open every Sunday. Additionally, there are more than 200 franchised stores that are also part of Colruyt Group: the Spar Colruyt Group stores are generally open on Sundays, although the independent entrepreneurs make that decision themselves. Colruyt Lowest Prices is not typically open on Sundays, but stores in tourist regions (coast and Ardennes) often open on Sunday mornings during busy tourist periods.