Germany rejects Sunday shopping

.. though we Europeans aren't lazy!

:wink:

If I didn't work to pay the bills, I'd work just as hard at things I am interested in doing that might not result in financial rewards immediately or ever, but in either case, am not lazy. (I haven't thought of Europeans as lazy anyway..)

MOU, Everybody outside of Africa are immigrants.

well that's also true. Except Serbs and Croats.
Serbs are created at the same time as amoebas (possibly alone, and possibly along with Chinese and Babylonians), and Croats are from Mesopotamia.

Okay. I'll have to remember that. Don't want to insult Serbs and Croats when I'm in your area. LOL Wanna come back alive.

Nah, we are nice people when we are not in war

Seriously, both Croats and Serbs are very hospitable (if that's the word - somehow at this moment I'm not sure is it related with being very nice and polite with guests or with hospital ) - as far as I remember in Serbia you will be in Belgrade and Novi Sad. Belgrade is big city where people mind their own business, and Novi Sad is in region called Vojvodina which is (along with croatian region Istria) most peacefull area in Balkan.
In Croatia, Osijek is pretty similar to that, and in Vukovar people are also nice, but they lived through terrible things, so just skip politics there
Here's why (croatian refugees after serbian occupation and total destruction of town):

by the way, I had two topics open so I accidently posted one huge post here - you can throw tomatoes at me between 8 and 10am, tomorrow.

I'll be using wet noodles.

Hey where did those huge photos go username?

I'm kinda glad he shrunk them.

thehamster - they are in "Where are you from" topic where they supposed to be at first place As I said above, I opened two topics at same time and accidently posted that one here first, and since it was in no way related to topic I moved them - luckily it was still last post so I was able to do it

My two cents: These are my opinions, based on living in Eastern Germany, Leipzig and Dresden.

Just a little background on me first. I am an American living in Dresden Germany. I have been here for almost two years. I love living in Germany and don't plan on going back to the States, but there are a few things that really bug me here. I wouldn't call these complaints, more like peeves.

First I will note the two major differences that I have noticed:
America = Service Orientated and most people like shopping
Germany = Price Orientated and some people like shopping

For those that say this really doesn't matter, I say it does.
For what other reason would these stores be open on Sunday? Convenience of course.

I see that the German economy isn't doing so well, so I say why aren't stores allowed to be open on Sunday, there are plenty of people more than willing to go shopping. Just check out Leipzig's Main train station, it's basically a mall with a train station or the other way around. On Sunday there are a lot of people shopping, except for the few and far between days that happen to be nice and sunny, then there are a few less.

I think it is absurd not to let the stores decide when to open and when not to open. If there are people, they will open, if not then they will be closed. Some areas could greatly benefit by having the option to be open on Sunday. Mainly tourist areas.

A lot of people say that we can just go during the week to go shopping. Well, that's just not as much fun, ( Germans say: Shopping fun? No way, it's out of necessity ; Americans say: Should be an Olympic sport!) Shopping on the weekends can be relaxing when there aren't to many people. Why are there to many people? Well because everyone has to shop on Saturday.

If I had my way, we would have more Mexican restaurants, cheaper Beef Jerky, grocery stores would be open 24/7.

I am sure that eventually the goverenment will cave and change the law. They have already been changing them, now we can shop till 8pm on Saturday.

Like I said, these are just my opinions.

ziggiezugg
Welcome to A2K, and thanks for your 2c's! :wink:

ok,

welcome to a2k.

I only can compare the situation here in Germany with that in other European countries.

I do think, we have better shopping hours now than before and than in most other countries ... especially, when comparing the situation in middle seized towns with 70,000 to 100,000 inhabitants.

(Ever tried to get frsh croissants/bread in England before 9 o'clock? Or buying vegetables before 8 o'clock? Or went to shops before 10 o'clock in France?)

or (in plan) ever go shopping around the clock in any shops in Vienna?

Well, I'm not talking about shopping in Vienna any more: all shops were closed at 18:00h just outsite the Ring! (Despite an antique bookshop, which opened at 16:00 and closed whenever the owner like :wink: )

Bit I'm talking more about Vienna :



Nope. All shops outside the Ring and Vienna in general were closed at 19 o`clock (Mondy to Friday, Saturday 17:00h) and especially inside the Ring and on the famous "Kärntnerstraße" until 20:00, sometimes 21:00.

Well, then they must have closed especially for us earlier. :wink: