Shopping Hours


In Germany, normal shopping hours are from 10 AM – 5 PM. I don’t know whether this is according to the law or not but most of the stores are operated within that hours. For supermarkets and department stores, the shopping hours are longer, until 8 PM or sometime 10 PM. I never have seen any 24-hours store in Bremen.

In Saturday, the shopping hours are shorter. And in Sunday, no stores are open! When I got briefing about life in Germany, I’ve been told that the Sunday-closed-stores regulation is made based on the Christian culture where people would go to churches at that time. So okay, fine with that. I am not going to comment on it, I’ll just adapt on it.

However, I still can’t understand with the workdays’ hours. That’s basically the same as workdays’ hours for offices. So suppose that I am working and want to shop around. I have to wait until Saturday to do it! Oooh, I think that’s not good for economic growth. Yea right, suddenly I am an expert in economic major. Well as a girl, I like to walk around in shopping areas. And as a normal girl, I use to buy something without planning! So I think it’s good if the stores could open until 9 or 10 PM to give a chance for working people to shop around. Imagine, how many girls will take this opportunity!

Now I wonder, do Germans have a longer lunch break in order to give a chance to office workers in case they have to buy something? And if it’s not, can we use that as an excuse to have shorter hour at the office? ;)

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