Benjamin Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/15/france-sunday-shopping Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Oh, Nicolas Sarkozy made liberalising Sunday shopping a plank of his 2007 presidential campaign – part of his drive to make France a more entrepreneurial society, where people would "work more to earn more".Being entrepreneurial is not about working more to earn more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I have never understood how the Gifi shop in Aurillac is able to open on Sundays all year round when every other shop is closed... [8-)]Still, it's high time this antiquated system was reformed.How the catholic church can still claim Sunday as its own is beyond me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 There lie eth the question ethhttp://sabbath.org/Clair do you like corn flakes? ah back to normal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nell Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Shops closed Sunday - Fine no problem What does get me is shops closed 12:00 - 14:00 Oh and also Might be open Monday, but there again might not [8-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerise Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Round here shops are open all the time, except on the one day of the year when you make a special 90 km round trip to visit one. Then you will find that on that day, and that day only it is having a 'fermeture exceptionelle'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Actually, I quite like the shops being closed on Sundays and during the lunch "2 hours". If I run out of stuff at those times, I can just stay at home and say well, there's nothing I can do about that, the shops are closed! Great............no fuss, no shops, no special trip!Am I in the minority here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I resent the way my day is shaped by closing times. Shops are a service and no more and should be open more or less all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 When I bought my house near Narbonne in 1989, I did a lot of furnishing purchases on a Sunday. A number of out of town shops were open on Sundays after 2pm for I think 4 hours. But the regulations regarding Sunday openings stopped this practise some time later although Sunday Markets were still allowed. Providing workers have the choice whether they work Sundays and are fairly remunerated, then the public can choose whether they shop. France has allowed many sporting events on Sundays so IMO the country been very behind in its trading laws. Baz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maricopa Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 [quote user="sweet 17"]Am I in the minority here?[/quote]Not at all, I agree entirely, but then I am a man and DETEST shopping! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I am a woman, Maricopa, and I DETEST shopping too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velcorin Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I resent having my week shaped by shop opening times. Nice if you're retired, presumeably it seems very twee, but I work. I leave home at 7am and get back at 7.30pm, as does my wife. So, like most French workers, everything gets crammed into Saturday.Such fun. It would be a massive, massive help if the non-food shops and services like estate agents and car dealerships, could open on a Sunday. Then, maybe, people like us wouldn't be so pressured. Millions of people already work on Sunday, restaurants, hotel, hospitals, EdF, radio/TV stations, police, cafes.........., so what is the big problem about (eg) Casterama opening on Sunday pray tell? Religious reasons? Nobody goes to church any more. 35 hour week? No, because after 7 hours, everyone does what I do, signs out, then go back to your desk and carry on working. Family? Ha-ha, my wife's family is an 7 hour drive away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I agree - France should join the 21st century! I also agree with the comments about the 12-2 closing. We live a distance from our big shopping area so we try to do all our shopping in one go and it make it really difficult to plan shopping trips. We either have to leave early (not always possible if you have a morning appointment) or leave after 1p.m. so we arrive in time for the afternoon opening. If they closed for an hour at lunch time it wouldn't be so bad but trying to kill two hours while you wait for everywhere to reopen is a pain in the neck. (And, no, we don't want to use the two hours to have a four course lunch....!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 [quote user="velcorin"] Religious reasons? Nobody goes to church any more. [/quote]Some people actually do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 [quote user="velcorin"]I resent having my week shaped by shop opening times. Nice if you're retired, presumeably it seems very twee, but I work. I leave home at 7am and get back at 7.30pm, as does my wife. So, like most French workers, everything gets crammed into Saturday.[/quote]Why not shop after work - or does it need both of you ?John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 If they've both worked from 7 til 7.30 they're probably too knackered to shop...and then go home and cook a meal. In any case if it's anything like where we are, even the larger stores close at 8.00pm so that hardly gives much time...unless you happen to work next door to the supermarket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I go to church, both here in France and in the UK and I am not the only one in the congregation.Whilst I agree with most which has been said about lunch hours and Mondays I dont particularly want to see France becoming like England on Sundays, teenagers working in world of sh*te or wherever to get money to buy mobile phones (and calling credit) or I-pods, stressed parents acting as Sunday taxi drivers, very few families around the Sunday lunch table etc etc, happily I dont think that I will live long enough to see it happen. Most of the supermarkets around me do open on a Sunday morning, is there really anything other that we must buy on that day?As an aside there is a very large Champion near me that is located by a busy exit from the A26, it was built recently at the cost of millions of Euros yet it is shut every Monday, part of me whilst put out says good luck to them if they can afford it, if I owned it I would want to be open 24 hours to maximise the return on investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I agree with Wooly on this one bring on longer opening hours.....There is nothing worse than some shop assistant coming up to you at five to twelve when you are searching the shelves for somthing or checking sizes and telling you to get out as they want to close ...then stand over you to make sure you dare not head off for another part of the shop while their pal guards the door in case god forbid a customer sneaks in .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 You should try Spain where all the smaller shops plus pharmacy etc. close between 2 pm and 5pm. Oh, and all the banks and post offices only open between 8 am and 2 pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valB Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 I am not bothered that much if the shops open or close on a Sunday as at present we know they are closed so we adjust our lives accordingly. Equally so, we normally go out about 2-30p.m. so that everything is open for the afternoon when we arrive at certain shops. We have lunch before we set off and normally arrive home in time to cook dinner so I don't see it is a problem. Yes, in the UK it is nice to know that most large supermarkets are open all hours but I did not shop at weird hours then so do not feel the need to do the same over here and if I know the shops are closed then I don't get there too early. Being retired helps I know and it must be awkward for folk who work over here but it is really a question of organising life around these things. I worked full time in England so I did a fairly big shop once a week and that worked well for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbles Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Our village shop closes from 12.30 until 4.30and so do both the boulangeriesI read somewhere that the further south you go in France, the longer the lunchtime closure is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 [quote user="valB"] Being retired helps I know and it must be awkward for folk who work over here but it is really a question of organising life around these things. [/quote]Therein lies the problem valB, planning is required.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 [quote user="bubbles"]Our village shop closes from 12.30 until 4.30and so do both the boulangeriesI read somewhere that the further south you go in France, the longer the lunchtime closure is.[/quote]It varies here, but you can always find a super / hypermarché open at lunchtimes - and they have well patronised cafeterias too - only yesterday did we find an obviously working person arrive at the opposite end of our table, eat his meal, and go on his way. When I worked full time in the UK, I got used to shopping once a week - even though in London I had a choice of shops open all hours. I rarely used them out of hours, and found it most bizarre to shop on a Sunday - and it was far too busy - much better to arrive at 8.30am on a Saturday morning when all the world and his wife were still asleep.In France you can find shops open on Sunday mornings, but really, the largest hypermarchés are open until 9.30pm, surely long enogh for the longest hours of work. Lunch hours here are 12-12.30 / 2pm, when all but the madly insane are eating anyhow! Though in villages nearer the coast we found the boulangerie didn't shut until 13.30 and opened again about 5.30 until 8pm. I quite like having Sunday's special, and yes, I do go to church, but there is a shop round the corner if I needed - but I don't!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 [quote user="sweet 17"] Actually, I quite like the shops being closed on Sundays and during the lunch "2 hours". If I run out of stuff at those times, I can just stay at home and say well, there's nothing I can do about that, the shops are closed! Great............no fuss, no shops, no special trip!Am I in the minority here?[/quote]I'm with you Sweet17. I just don't understand why people come to France and then want to change it to how it was in the UK! We love the way that Sunday is different, it's a family day. In the UK it's just like any other day of the week, same old traffic, mostly caused by people trailing round the shops looking for new mobile phones or stuff for the home!Ban Sunday opening!Sid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Very loud applause from me [:)]The ability to think a head and plan so you don't need shops open on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now