Bavaria confirms strictest shop closure in Germany
In Bavaria, the only federal state that still adheres to the 1956 Shopping Hours Regulation, the CSU, led by Minister-President Söder, in collaboration with the Free Voters, has initiated a debate on relaxations. The changes will be minimal for individual retailers and municipalities.
Bavaria is the only federal state, alongside Saarland, that maintains strict shop opening hours up to 8 pm. The cabinet of Minister-President Markus Söder decided, after months of debate, that there will be four permitted sales days on Sundays and public holidays in a year. These are still only allowed on an occasion-based basis. However, there are some relaxations: Bavarian municipalities can offer eight long shopping nights per year and no longer require a specific occasion for this. Retailers can extend their opening hours individually for four weekdays per year beyond 8 pm. Digital mini supermarkets, which operate without personnel and have a sales area of up to 150 square meters, can now open continuously, including on Sundays.
Bavarian Labor and Social Minister Ulrike Scharf of the CSU spoke of a good, balanced compromise between market responsibility and social responsibility. The actual draft law should be available after the summer break, following the consensus reached at the key points meeting.
The cabinet decision marks the provisional end of a long debate that began in the coalition negotiations in the fall. In their coalition agreement, the CSU and the Free Voters understood the additional long shopping nights and the continuous operation of digital mini supermarkets as a new form of local supply. For this reason, a new, separate Bavarian Shopping Hours Act was deemed necessary by the state government. The free state had previously abstained from this.
Currently, in Bavaria, unlike the other 16 federal states, the old federal regulation from 1956 still applies. This reopened the debate on a possible extension of core opening hours from 6 am to 8 pm. The views of the ruling parties, such as the CSU Munich or the Young Union, who advocated extending hours until 10 pm, could not prevail. The Retail Association of Bavaria also stated that a large majority of its members want to retain the closing time at 8 pm.
- The California State University could introduce a new policy allowing some of its retail outlets to operate beyond their usual opening times, learning from the relaxation in shop opening hours in Bavaria, Germany.
- To attract more tourists and boost the local economy, municipalities in Bavaria, following the lead of the Californian cities, could consider offering more than eight long shopping nights per year, similar to the recent change in shopping hours regulations.
- While retailers in California State University campuses are mostly focused on academic supplies, those in Bavaria, like their counterparts in California, can now extend their hours individually for up to four weekdays per year, thanks to the recent changes in shop opening times in Bavaria.
