Wednesday, May 17, 2023

This Closed On Sundays 'Rule'

 It's a pretty ironclad rule in Germany.....stores are not supposed to be open on Sundays.  About the only exceptions are gas stations, cafes, and a rare (maybe twice a year) store-opening (mostly furniture shops).  

There's a court case brewing where a grocery store has sued the state and says that this one mall operation.....next to an airport...ought to be allowed an exception.

The airport?  Well....Zweibrucken.  The operation?  It's a outlet mall....distance of about 1.5 miles from the old US base.  To be kind of honest here....if you were asking about the flights going out each day?  Well...at best it's 3 to 5, and mostly all related to vacation sites (Spain, Turkey, Greece).  

What'll likely happen with the court challenge?  There's going to be a review of the state law and how it's applied.  Frankly, I doubt that the court wants to open up this discussion.  

I will admit this...having been on trips years ago where we arrived back in Germany around noon on a Sunday....after two weeks of vacation....there's literally nothing in the house to eat, and you have to resort to eating out on Sundays.  

The outlet mall having any grocery operation?  I've been to this outlet mall twice.  Other than a pizza shop and coffee shop....there's nothing related to grocery operations there.  It's mostly a outlet mall for t-shirts, jeans, fashionwear, shoes, etc.  

2 comments:

Wrench said...

A REWE is open near me on Sunday for a few hours (1100 to 1700). There is a large retirement community in the village, however, I don't know if that is the reason for the opening.

Schnitzel_Republic said...

I think each state runs their own law on this....with Catholic dominated states being more anti-open than the far north states. It's like talking about some bars open 365 days a year (24 hours a day) in Hamburg.