Closed stores and major shopping streets looking nearly deserted. The sight surprises tourists visiting cities such as Berlin or Munich. Commercial life pauses for one day, Sunday, meant for rest and during which making noise is also prohibited. Now, a German government reform that opens the door to greater flexibility for Sunday openings has reignited debate over a century-old tradition that increasingly lacks support and which many say fosters unfair competition, since customers can shop online on Sundays.
“It may seem strange to tourists that the shops are closed, but it’s the same for everyone,” says Ulf Rating, owner of Big Brobot, a small clothing and book store in the center of the popular Berlin neighborhood of Friedrichshain. “It’s old-fashioned, it’s from another era, but it protects me,” he concedes, referring to the fact that if establishments were allowed to open, he or his partner would have to be at the store instead of with their families, because they could not afford to hire anyone. “We’re happy it’s not possible,” he says.
In his view, changing the law would only benefit big chains and retailers that can pay for extra staff. “It makes no sense to me. That’s why I would like it to remain as it is,” he adds. Despite being located in a neighborhood that attracts many tourists on Sundays because of its flea markets, he does not believe opening that day would bring him much benefit, because he would have to close another day to rest and “the big businesses would take the customers.”
Not far from there, another long-established shop in the neighborhood sees it differently. “My boss Pia would like to open on Sundays,” says Shannon, a sales assistant at the clothing store Prachtmädchen. She believes it would be good for small retailers to open in an area with many passersby. “I’m Australian, and when I arrived in Berlin it surprised me. Back home everyone can decide whether to open or not,” she explains. She also notes that workers would earn more and students and young people could combine study with a side job.
Meanwhile, the popular Vollkornbäckerei Hartwich bakery on Warschauer Str., which could open on Sundays, prefers not to. “We don’t want to, even though we can,” one of its assistants says. “Most people don’t want to work on Sunday and that’s better. We’re fine with it,” she adds.
After years of crisis and economic stagnation, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is keen to push through one reform after another in a desperate attempt to spur growth in a country hit by U.S. tariffs and Chinese competition. The coalition’s ambitious package between conservatives and social democrats proposes a small change that, nevertheless, has sparked a heated debate. In principle, the reform would allow some establishments (primarily bakeries and pastry shops) to open for eight hours instead of the current three. It would also apply to public libraries, although those establishments do not make sales.
This has revived the debate over whether Sunday rest is a beneficial tradition or an anachronism that should be eliminated as other countries have done, at least in tourist areas of major cities. Currently, exceptions apply, among others, to shops in train stations and airports, gas stations and pharmacies, as well as to souvenir, plant and newsstands. But the legal change under consideration has provoked a deeper discussion about whether stores should open on Sundays.
The debate has taken place within Chancellor Merz’s own Christian Democratic Union (CDU). MP Stefan Nacke, a member of the Bundestag’s Labour Committee, told Die Zeit: “Anyone who wants to turn Sunday into a regular shopping day confuses modernization with constant availability. Sunday rest protects workers, families and communal social life.” Meanwhile, the CDU’s economic wing points out that consumption is one of the most important pillars of the economy.
In 1919, Sunday rest was enshrined in the Weimar Republic’s constitution. It stated that Sundays and public holidays “shall continue to be protected by law as days of rest from work and of spiritual elevation.” That provision was incorporated into the current Basic Law, adopted in 1949. But local regulations and permits vary. In Berlin, for example, four Sundays of opening were authorized this year. Also, in Berlin, Hamburg or North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, sales are permitted 24 hours a day from Monday to Saturday. Bavaria, by contrast, is one of the most restrictive states.
Churches and social organizations argue that Sunday rest offers a break from consumerism and fosters social cohesion. However, proponents of abolishing it point out that more and more people shop at online stores like Amazon or from Chinese merchants, while urban centers lose appeal because of rising vacancies and closures.
One of the businesses most affected by online commerce is bookstores. “I’ve thought many times that it would be good to open the shop on Sundays. We’re an independent bookstore and independent retailers face a lot of pressure in Germany, probably across Europe, mainly because of online commerce that is available every day, even on Sundays. And that hurts us,” says David Mesche, one of the two owners of the small independent Buchbox bookstore chain, which has three shops in Prenzlauer Berg and one in Friedrichshain.
He would like bookstores to have at least a special status and be allowed to open like libraries. “During the pandemic we were allowed to open in Berlin because politicians recognized that this is a cultural good,” he recalls. He also thinks it would be fair to pay workers more for Sundays. Ultimately, opening that day would also bring great benefits to cities, where tourists could visit small neighborhood businesses, something that “would raise the area’s value and make it more interesting for tourists.”
The German Retail Federation (HDE) is calling for openings to be allowed on at least 10 to 12 Sundays a year nationwide. “Sunday is one of the busiest days for e-commerce, so special Sunday openings would be an opportunity to gain ground against online retail,” explains Steven Haarke, HDE’s director general for Labor, Education, Social Policy and Collective Bargaining, referring to openings that, as he notes, would start at 1.00 pm, so they would not interfere with religious services.
“For many people it’s a leisure day, when restaurants and cultural and leisure centers are open as usual,” he says. “Retail, by contrast, is often left out, although shopping today is much more than merely buying provisions. For many people, shopping is part of their leisure activities and provides an important boost to keep city centers lively.” Haarke criticizes Germany as “unnecessarily restrictive” compared with other European countries.
In two recent independent polls by INSA and YouGov, around half of respondents supported the ban, a backing that has declined over the years. This is also reflected in conversations with consumers in shops. “I like that it’s a quiet day with everything closed,” says Theresa as she browses clothes in a mall shop. But her friend Antje sees it differently and points out that if shops opened on Sundays people “wouldn’t flock” to buy groceries the day before a closure, especially when there is a public holiday and stores are closed for two consecutive days.
However, the services union Verdi insists on the need for workers to be able to rest. “Longer retail hours do not generate more business volume nor do they help make city centers livelier,” explains Corinna Gross, head of Verdi’s retail group. “On the contrary, they are a powerful tool in the unfair competition of large retail groups. They cause a shift of turnover from rural areas to cities and from small and medium-sized enterprises to retail giants. The result is increasingly desolate urban centers, with the same chains as always.” In her view, the debate has not changed, and she recalls that Verdi is part of a pro-Sunday-rest alliance of unions and churches that joined more than 20 years ago to defend what they consider “a social achievement.” “Sunday work in the retail sector is an attack by employers on the work–family balance of more than three million retail workers,” she says.
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