Shopping hours
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Customs and regulations for shopping hours (times that shops are open) vary from country to country.
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Shopping days and impact of holidays
Some countries do not allow Sunday shopping. In Islamic countries some shops are closed on Fridays. In Israel many shops are closed on Friday evening and Saturday during daytime.
Each state in Australia sets its own standard trading hours, but in most of the country the shops are open seven days a week for at least part of the day.
For some shops and other businesses Christmas Day is the only day in the year that they are closed.
In the US a shop may often be open all days of the year except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day (most often - virtually everything closes on that day in virtually all communities), and Easter Sunday, although in smaller communities many stores will be closed on all Sundays.
In Islamic countries shops may have special opening hours during Ramadan.
Australia
The two main supermarkets Woolworths and Coles generally open between 6 am and 12 midnight 7 days a week. Some inner-city stores may operate 24 hours except on public holidays and stores in some states have restricted hours on Sundays. Western Australia has the most restricitve trading hours, with the big supermarket chains only allowed to be open between 9:00am-6:00pm Mon-Fri, 9:00am-9:00pm Thursday and 8:00am-5:00pm Saturday. An exception to this is independent supermarkets or stores/businesses that employ a small amount of people, which restrictions are then relaxed.
Netherlands
Regular opening hours: Monday 11 am-6 pm; Tuesday-Friday: 9:30 am-6 pm; Saturday: 9:30-5 pm; Sunday (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and smaller tourist towns): 12-5 or 6 pm. In many other towns shops are open every first Sunday of the month.
Each shop is allowed to stay open until 10 pm Monday through Saturday. Some DIY-stores and Ikea stay open until 9 pm. Most towns have their weekly shopping evening (koopavond), when shops stay open until 9 pm, either on Thursday or Friday. Supermarkets usually remain open until 8, 9 or 10 pm on weekdays and untill 6 or 8 pm on Saturdays. In some towns supermarkets are open Sundays between 10 am-6 pm. Many towns have one or more little supermarkets (avondwinkels) that are open until later in the evening, occasionally all night. Convenience stores also have longer shopping hours; they are at many larger railway stations and some busy streets.
A regular size supermarket that is open until midnight seven days a week is the Food Village at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam (located in the area of the airport before ticket checks, hence not only for air travellers).
Germany
Shopping days and opening hours in Germany are regulated by a federal law, the "Shop Closing Law" (Ladenschlußgesetz), first enacted in 1956 and last revised on March 13, 2003. In general, from Monday through Saturday, shops may not open prior to 6 am and may not stay open later than 8 pm. Shops are also obliged to close all day on Sundays and public holidays (both federal and state), and special rules apply concerning Christmas Eve (December 24) when that day falls on a workday. There are, however, several exceptions. For example, gas stations (Tankstellen) and shops located in train stations and airports may stay open past the normal hours; some gas stations in larger cities and especially on the Autobahn are open 24 hours a day. Shops in so-called "tourist zones" may also be open outside the normal hours, although they are restricted to selling souvenirs, handcrafted articles and similar tourist items. In connection with fairs and public market days, communities are allowed four days per year (normally Sundays) when shops may be open outside the normal restrictions, however such shop openings may not take place during primary church services and must close by 6 pm. Bakeries may open for business at 5:30 am and may also open for a limited time on Sundays. Restaurants, bars, theaters, cultural establishments, etc. are generally unaffected by the shop-closing restrictions. As most public holidays in Germany are religiously based, and since the religious holidays (Protestant and Catholic) are not uniform across Germany but instead vary from state to state (depending on whether Protestants or Catholics are predominant), stores in one state may be closed while on the same day may be wide open in a neighboring state.
The shop-closing law has been the subject of controversy in recent years, as larger stores (and many of their customers) would prefer to have less restrictions on their hours of operation, while the trade unions, small shop owners and the church are opposed to a further loosening of the rules. On June 9, 2004, the German Supreme Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) rejected a claim by the German department store chain Kaufhof AG that the shop-closing law was unconstitutional. Among other things, the court cited Article 140 of the German constitution (Grundgesetz) (which in turn invokes Article 139 of the 1919 Weimar Constitution) protecting Sundays and public holidays as days of rest and recuperation. However, the court in effect invited the Federal parliament (Bundestag) to reconsider whether the states (Länder) and not the federal government should regulate shop-closing hours.
Austria
Image:Das ist okay.JPG With the exception of the country being predominantly Catholic rather than Protestant, the German situation very much applies for Austria, too. Until the 1990s, all shops closed on Saturday noon (mostly at 12) and only reopened on Monday morning. Entrepreneurs such as Richard Lugner lobbied for an expansion of shopping hours, and gradually laws are being changed and more and more exceptions granted. Meanwhile, as in Germany, outside regular shopping hours the train stations of big cities have taken on the role of Nahversorger (supplying the local population with groceries).
United States
In the U.S., shopping hours vary widely. Key variables are the size of the metropolitan area, the type of store, and the size of the store. In major metropolitan areas like New York and Los Angeles, many drugstores and supermarkets are routinely open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, while department stores, shopping centers and most other large retailers are typically open from 10 am to 9 pm Monday to Saturday, and often with shorter hours on Sundays (generally 11 am or 12 noon to 5 or 6 pm). On holidays, the tendency is to remain open (with the exception of the most important holidays like Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day where stores are generally closed), often maintaining normal hours for that day.
Most locations of the country's largest retailer, Wal-Mart (especially its Supercenter hypermarkets), are open continuously except on Christmas Day, unless local laws dictate otherwise. Other hypermarket chains tend to follow Wal-Mart's lead, although not always remaining open around the clock (hours such as 7 am to 11 pm are common). Boutiques and smaller shops often close early at 5 or 6 pm (occasionally with one late evening, usually Thursday or Friday), and may be closed one or two days per week (most often Sunday).
In many smaller cities and rural towns, there are strong religious traditions that cause most local retailers to stay closed on Sunday, and the few that are open may have reduced hours. However, many of the same communities will have at least one Wal-Mart that is open around the clock.