{"id":143495,"date":"2026-08-11T04:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T04:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/143495\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T04:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T04:40:16","slug":"opening-on-sunday-the-taboo-for-stores-in-germany-that-the-government-wants-to-break-economy-and-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/143495\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening on Sunday, the taboo for stores in Germany that the government wants to break | Economy and Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Closed stores and major shopping streets looking nearly deserted. The sight surprises tourists visiting cities such as Berlin or Munich. Commercial life pauses for one day, Sunday, meant for rest and during which making noise is also prohibited. Now, a German government<\/a> reform that opens the door to greater flexibility for Sunday openings has reignited debate over a century-old tradition that increasingly lacks support and which many say fosters unfair competition, since customers can shop online on Sundays.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may seem strange to tourists that the shops are closed, but it\u2019s the same for everyone,\u201d says Ulf Rating, owner of Big Brobot, a small clothing and book store in the center of the popular Berlin neighborhood of Friedrichshain. \u201cIt\u2019s old-fashioned, it\u2019s from another era, but it protects me,\u201d he concedes, referring to the fact that if establishments were allowed to open, he or his partner would have to be at the store instead of with their families, because they could not afford to hire anyone. \u201cWe\u2019re happy it\u2019s not possible,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

In his view, changing the law would only benefit big chains and retailers that can pay for extra staff. \u201cIt makes no sense to me. That\u2019s why I would like it to remain as it is,\u201d he adds. Despite being located in a neighborhood that attracts many tourists on Sundays because of its flea markets, he does not believe opening that day would bring him much benefit, because he would have to close another day to rest and \u201cthe big businesses would take the customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not far from there, another long-established shop in the neighborhood sees it differently. \u201cMy boss Pia would like to open on Sundays,\u201d says Shannon, a sales assistant at the clothing store Prachtm\u00e4dchen. She believes it would be good for small retailers to open in an area with many passersby. \u201cI\u2019m Australian, and when I arrived in Berlin<\/a> it surprised me. Back home everyone can decide whether to open or not,\u201d she explains. She also notes that workers would earn more and students and young people could combine study with a side job. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the popular Vollkornb\u00e4ckerei Hartwich bakery on Warschauer Str., which could open on Sundays, prefers not to. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to, even though we can,\u201d one of its assistants says. \u201cMost people don\u2019t want to work on Sunday and that\u2019s better. We\u2019re fine with it,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

After years of crisis and economic stagnation<\/a>, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is keen to push through one reform after another in a desperate attempt to spur growth in a country hit by U.S. tariffs and Chinese competition. The coalition\u2019s ambitious package between conservatives and social democrats proposes a small change that, nevertheless, has sparked a heated debate. In principle, the reform would allow some establishments (primarily bakeries and pastry shops) to open for eight hours instead of the current three. It would also apply to public libraries, although those establishments do not make sales.<\/p>\n

This has revived the debate over whether Sunday rest is a beneficial tradition or an anachronism that should be eliminated as other countries have done, at least in tourist areas of major cities. Currently, exceptions apply, among others, to shops in train stations and airports, gas stations and pharmacies, as well as to souvenir, plant and newsstands. But the legal change under consideration has provoked a deeper discussion about whether stores should open on Sundays.<\/p>\n

The debate has taken place within Chancellor Merz\u2019s own Christian Democratic Union (CDU). MP Stefan Nacke, a member of the Bundestag\u2019s Labour Committee, told Die Zeit: \u201cAnyone who wants to turn Sunday into a regular shopping day confuses modernization with constant availability. Sunday rest protects workers, families and communal social life.\u201d Meanwhile, the CDU\u2019s economic wing points out that consumption is one of the most important pillars of the economy.<\/p>\n

In 1919, Sunday rest was enshrined in the Weimar Republic\u2019s constitution. It stated that Sundays and public holidays \u201cshall continue to be protected by law as days of rest from work and of spiritual elevation.\u201d That provision was incorporated into the current Basic Law, adopted in 1949. But local regulations and permits vary. In Berlin, for example, four Sundays of opening were authorized this year. Also, in Berlin, Hamburg or North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, sales are permitted 24 hours a day from Monday to Saturday. Bavaria, by contrast, is one of the most restrictive states.<\/p>\n

Churches and social organizations argue that Sunday rest offers a break from consumerism and fosters social cohesion. However, proponents of abolishing it point out that more and more people shop at online stores like Amazon or from Chinese merchants, while urban centers lose appeal because of rising vacancies and closures.<\/p>\n

One of the businesses most affected by online commerce is bookstores. \u201cI\u2019ve thought many times that it would be good to open the shop on Sundays. We\u2019re an independent bookstore and independent retailers face a lot of pressure in Germany, probably across Europe, mainly because of online commerce that is available every day, even on Sundays. And that hurts us,\u201d says David Mesche, one of the two owners of the small independent Buchbox bookstore chain, which has three shops in Prenzlauer Berg and one in Friedrichshain.<\/p>\n

He would like bookstores to have at least a special status and be allowed to open like libraries. \u201cDuring the pandemic we were allowed to open in Berlin because politicians recognized that this is a cultural good,\u201d he recalls. He also thinks it would be fair to pay workers more for Sundays. Ultimately, opening that day would also bring great benefits to cities, where tourists could visit small neighborhood businesses, something that \u201cwould raise the area\u2019s value and make it more interesting for tourists.\u201d<\/p>\n

The German Retail Federation (HDE) is calling for openings to be allowed on at least 10 to 12 Sundays a year nationwide. \u201cSunday is one of the busiest days for e-commerce, so special Sunday openings would be an opportunity to gain ground against online retail,\u201d explains Steven Haarke, HDE\u2019s director general for Labor, Education, Social Policy and Collective Bargaining, referring to openings that, as he notes, would start at 1.00 pm, so they would not interfere with religious services.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many people it\u2019s a leisure day, when restaurants and cultural and leisure centers are open as usual,\u201d he says. \u201cRetail, by contrast, is often left out, although shopping today is much more than merely buying provisions. For many people, shopping is part of their leisure activities<\/a> and provides an important boost to keep city centers lively.\u201d Haarke criticizes Germany as \u201cunnecessarily restrictive\u201d compared with other European countries.<\/p>\n

In two recent independent polls by INSA and YouGov, around half of respondents supported the ban, a backing that has declined over the years. This is also reflected in conversations with consumers in shops. \u201cI like that it\u2019s a quiet day with everything closed,\u201d says Theresa as she browses clothes in a mall shop. But her friend Antje sees it differently and points out that if shops opened on Sundays people \u201cwouldn\u2019t flock\u201d to buy groceries the day before a closure, especially when there is a public holiday and stores are closed for two consecutive days.<\/p>\n

However, the services union Verdi insists on the need for workers to be able to rest. \u201cLonger retail hours do not generate more business volume nor do they help make city centers livelier,\u201d explains Corinna Gross, head of Verdi\u2019s retail group. \u201cOn the contrary, they are a powerful tool in the unfair competition of large retail groups. They cause a shift of turnover from rural areas to cities and from small and medium-sized enterprises to retail giants. The result is increasingly desolate urban centers, with the same chains as always.\u201d In her view, the debate has not changed, and she recalls that Verdi is part of a pro-Sunday-rest alliance of unions and churches that joined more than 20 years ago to defend what they consider \u201ca social achievement.\u201d \u201cSunday work in the retail sector is an attack by employers on the work\u2013family balance of more than three million retail workers,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Closed stores and major shopping streets looking nearly deserted. The sight surprises tourists visiting cities such as Berlin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[112,235,190,3180],"class_list":["post-143495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-berlin","tag-friedrich-merz","tag-germany","tag-internet"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117075039084557619","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}