The first “experiment” of Sunday shops opening that took place on Sunday the 3rd of November was proven successful, as the movement in many chain stores and supermarkets in Athens and Piraeus show consumers responded well to the opening of stores on Sundays.
After opposition from small retailers and the Greek Orthodox Church, the government has backed away from allowing retailers to trade on any Sunday. Instead, the new rule lets them operate seven Sundays a year from now on. Greece’s influential Orthodox Church has said the Sunday holiday, which was first established in 1908, should be strictly reserved for religious observance and rest.
However, the image from the shops in the rest of Greece was far from the expected.
A majority of shops both in the center of Athens, as well as in the surrounding municipalities were open, while for a wide range of products the discounts were more than 50 percent.
In Athens, two gatherings were organized against this Sunday opening of stores, the one supported by SYRIZA and the other by PAME as part of the 24-hour strike of merchants and employees. However, these mobilizations did not prevent the operation of shops.
“Many people walk around today with the stores open but are those who actually buy something,” stated to anampa.gr the president of the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce Vasilis Korkidis.
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