Major Israeli Pharmacy Chain To Close All Stores On Shabbos

Israel -- All 56 stores in NewPharm, Israel's 2nd-largest drugstore chain, will be closed on Sabbos by next month, its owner says. Ramit Shavit, who purchased the chain less than a year ago, told an Israeli newspaper about his recent visit to Eilat, shortly after midnight on a Friday night: "We have a NewPharm store there that was open on Sabbath. My soul was torn. I couldn't even go in and say hello to the workers. What would I say? 'Shabbat Shalom to you, thanks for working for me at midnight on Sabbath for 50,000 shekels turnover'? I felt truly ashamed. Our group has a turnover of 2.7 billion shekels, so another few million shekels would make the difference if I keep the stores open on the Sabbath?"