Shops will still close at 8 p.m. in the future: Bavaria will continue to have the strictest shop closing rules in the country. However, the coalition is struggling to relax some of the rules.
Bavaria is the only federal state, apart from Saarland, to stick to its strict store opening hours of 8 p.m. at the latest. After months of debate, the cabinet decided on Tuesday to relax a few restrictions: Municipalities will be allowed to offer eight long shopping nights per year in the future and will not need a special reason to do so. So-called digital micro-supermarkets with no staff and a maximum of 150 square meters of sales area will be allowed to open all day, including on Sundays. And retailers will also be allowed to open later than 8 p.m. on four working days per year.
Labor and Social Affairs Minister Ulrike Scharf (CSU) spoke of a good, balanced balance between the freedom of the market and responsibility for the common good. For Sundays, things remain the same: as before, shops will be allowed to open on Sundays and public holidays four times a year – and as before, only for special occasions. The start is still open. After the key points are decided, the actual draft law should be available after the summer.
Conclusion of a long debate
The cabinet decision marks the provisional end to a long debate that began in the coalition negotiations in the autumn. In their coalition agreement, the CSU and the Free Voters had agreed on additional long shopping nights and the continuous operation of digital micro-supermarkets “as a new form of local supply”. From the state government’s point of view, this ultimately required a separate Bavarian shop closing law – something the Free State had previously refrained from doing. Bavaria is currently the only one of the 16 federal states that still has the old federal regulation from 1956.
This also opened the debate about a possible extension of core opening hours after 8 p.m. Voices within the governing parties, including the Munich CSU and the Junge Union, which had called for an extension to 10 p.m., were unable to prevail. And the Bavarian Retail Association also stated that the vast majority of its members were in favor of maintaining the 8 p.m. closing time.
The result: only a few minor changes, the details of which were the subject of heated debate within the coalition. And this is what the key points of the new law now look like:
General closing times:
Bavaria is sticking to the previous opening hours, which are the strictest in Germany: shops are only allowed to open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the week. Shops must remain closed on Sundays and public holidays, as before, with very few exceptions, such as at train stations. Only Saarland is also sticking to the 8 p.m. limit.
Eight long shopping nights in municipalities:
In future, cities and municipalities will be allowed to allow extended opening hours after 8 p.m. to a maximum of midnight on up to eight working days (Monday to Saturday) per year – as so-called shopping nights. There does not need to be a specific reason for this – for example a special event. Up to now, only individual weekday event evenings with longer shop opening hours had generally been approved.
Four additional long nights for traders:
In addition, retailers are allowed to stay open past 8 p.m. on four working days per year. Scharf cited a “classic” example of a bookstore that organizes a reading and can then sell its books that evening. “Then it can do this up to four times a year with a simple notification requirement,” she explained.
Digital micro-supermarkets:
In such mini-markets without staff, customers have to take their goods themselves and pay, for example, at self-scanning checkouts. In principle, the full range of products can be offered there. What is new is that these digital micro-supermarkets will generally be allowed to be open all day – including on Sundays – around the clock. However, the specific time frame for Sunday openings will be set by the respective municipalities. However, there will be a minimum opening time of eight hours. There is one limit: the sales area can be a maximum of 150 square meters.
Sundays and public holidays when shops are open:
Here it remains the same: As before, shops will be allowed to open on Sundays and public holidays a maximum of four times a year – but only for specific occasions, such as a market, trade fair or similar event. There are no new relaxations here.
Tourist destinations:
Around 500 of the 2,000 or so Bavarian communities are listed as tourist, health or pilgrimage destinations. On 40 Sundays and public holidays, a specified range of goods can be sold there, including “tourist-relevant product groups and food that is suitable for immediate consumption”. The criteria for this are now to be specified, but the process is to be simplified. In addition, the range of products is to be relaxed – in future, there will not be a need for a connection to the location, but to the region.
Long-distance bus stations:
Long-distance bus terminals should be treated the same as international airports and passenger railway stations in terms of opening hours and permitted exceptions.
Scharf and Aiwanger defend 8 p.m. limit
Scharf and Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) defended sticking to the 8 p.m. limit. Scharf stressed that the shop closing law is an employee protection law, not an economic development law. In addition, the trade association has not called for longer opening times. “They don’t want it. To be quite honest, they often can’t afford it either, because the issue of a shortage of skilled workers also plays a role in retail.”
Aiwanger argued that more goods would not be sold, but only over longer hours, and therefore at higher costs. And longer opening hours only in the cities would have a negative impact on the country, he warned, “because customers would then drive from the country to the city.” CSU parliamentary group leader Klaus Holetschek said of the easing of restrictions: “We combine modernity with the protection of employees.”
Source: Stern
