DAMMAM: Shoura Council member Mohammed Al-Kheneizi said the council would recommend to the Ministries of Labor and Municipal and Rural Affairs the closure of “small groceries (bagalas) and limiting retail permits to bigger shops that would be able to employ more Saudi men and women.”

He said there was no benefit in having more than one corner shop in a neighborhood, adding the shop was small, that feminization would not apply and in any case those retail shops are dependent on employing expats whose present numbers are around one million.

He said the policy of the government now was to decrease the number of expats and enhance Saudization in all sectors.

Al-Kheneizi said the Labor Ministry had accepted the recommendation and was looking further into it before bringing it into law.

He said that many private grocery permits were in the name of women as the real owners are employees who can’t work according to the law so the permits are issued in their wives’ names and so the permit is legal.

He said larger retail shops were better because they had standards to protect what is displayed, to provide better services to consumers and greater employment opportunities.