All 56 stores in Israel's 2nd-largest drugstore chain - NewPharm - will be closed on Sabbath by next month, its owner says.

Ramit Shavit, who purchased the chain less than a year ago, told the Makor Rishon 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?"

Of the 56 NewPharm stores, 18 were open on Sabbath until early this year; seven of them were closed several months ago, and the remaining 11 will be closed by next month.

Shavit also owns a controlling interest in the giant HaMashbir LaTzarchan department store chain.  In 2005, two years after he purchased it, Shavit closed its 30 stores on Sabbaths.

Shavit emphasizes that his decision is partly because of Jewish tradition, but more for social reasons: "I do not come from a religious home, but rather a traditional one. I often heard that work on the Sabbath does not bring blessing. But in this case, our stores didn't lose money on the Sabbath; the decision stems purely from the good of the workers. I relate to my workers as my top asset, a supreme value. They know it and the whole industry knows it. Ask any worker in HaMashbir; 99% of the people will say that there is no better employer than me."

NewPharm has not earned money of late, and Shavit hopes to turn the trend around.  He notes that in the stores that were closed on Sabbath earlier this year, weekday business grew significantly: "I don't know why that is, but that's what happened. We are working aggressively in various ways to increase business and become more attractive to the people...  If more religious people come to our stores, that will be good, but I'm not [relying on it]."