Court orders halal supermarket in Paris to close because it sells no pork or wine

A French court has ordered a halal grocery store in Paris to shut down because it did not sell pork and alcohol, and failed to cater for the needs of the customers.

The Court of Nanterre ruled on Monday that the “Good Price” mini-market in Colombes failed to comply with the conditions of its lease, according to which the grocery must act as a "general food store,” La Liberation reported.

The court ordered the termination of the store's lease and the eviction of the tenants. In addition, the owner must pay €4,000 to the local authority in respect of legal costs.

The court ruled that the owner of the store had failed to meet “the needs of all inhabitants of the residential area.” The products that the shop stocked were "restrictive and did not fit the broad concept of general goods,” it added.

Local residents complained that after the halal mini-market replaced a regular supermarket they were not being served properly, with halal products constituting 96 percent of what the grocery shop sold.

The landlord said it was impossible to find bottles of wine or pork on the shelves, even though the lease had been granted for a "general food store." When the owner of the store was questioned at the time, he said, as cited by 20minutes.fr: "It's business. I look around me and I target what I see."

The grocery store’s owner and his lawyer argued that, while being “accused of not selling wine, wine is not part of the general diet." The store has “no obligations to sell it, as it was only a complement to food,” the lawyer said.