Major cities in disagreement over Sunday store opening
Just one in eight (12.34 percent) Athens merchants is in favor of commercial stores operating on Sundays beyond the seven per year that the law provides for, according to a survey conducted by the Athens Tradesmen Association among its members. Their Thessaloniki counterparts, however, beg to differ, and are planning two more Sunday openings per year.
The survey of 198 members of the Athens association on August 28-30 found that 86.3 percent are against opening on any more Sundays than the seven dictated by law, with shopkeepers in areas popular with tourists in the capital being the most vehement in their opposition to extended Sunday openings (91.7 percent).
In contrast, the head of the Thessaloniki Tradesmen Association, Costas Hantzaridis, and the chief of the Regional Authority of Central Macedonia, Apostolos Tzitzicostas, agreed on Tuesday on the trial opening of the city’s commercial stores for two additional Sundays, during the operation of this year’s Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF).
The new law dictates that regional authorities have until November 8 to decide on any additional Sundays stores up to 250 square meters big can open beyond the two Sundays before Christmas, one before Easter and once during each of the four sales periods.
