Sunday shopping makes its return

As of 16 April 2016 the law allows shops to be open on Sundays once again. Shopping centres reacted to this change very quickly and made it mandatory for shops in malls to be open on Sundays. However, retailers now need to solve many practical problems in order to be able to receive customers on the 7th day of the week, making administrative changes and taking certain steps in the field of labour law. In accordance with the current regulation, the new opening hours of a shop must be reported to the local notary within 8 days. In addition to this, shoppers also need to be informed about the new opening hours. The law still imposes limitations on shops being open between 22:00 and 6:00, but the notary or the municipality may grant this right to retailers.

What about the salaries of those working in retail on Sundays? According to the law, those working on Sundays are entitled to 50 percent higher rates (earlier those working in shops – that were allowed to be open on Sundays 5 times a year – got 100 percent higher rates on these days). It seems that the real winners of the new regulation will be students working at weekends. Thanks to the longer opening hours, retailers need to rethink employees’ work schedules. It is very likely that in the long run retail companies will have to consider employing part-time workers if they want to serve consumer needs as well as possible in the longer opening hours.