Summer sales start today and will run until Saturday, August 30. Moreover, retail stores throughout the country will remain open on July 20, the first Sunday of the sales period, from 11 am to 8 pm.
In addition, stores will have the option to remain open every Sunday in the commercial centers of Athens, Thessaloniki, selected tourist destinations such as Kos, Rhodes and Santorini and in the Attica region of Pikermi where there is a discount village. This is a pilot measure recently introduced by the government aiming to lead up to a lifting of restrictions to Sunday opening in other areas.
The measure is among the prior actions demanded of Greece under the memorandum agreements for the bailout loans, which stipulate that the ministerial decision must be issued by July 7, 2014 and state the areas where stores have the option to stay open every day of the week, regardless of size and without the approval of regional authorities.
Its implementation will be among the actions to be monitored by the next troika review and, judging by the results of the pilot implementation of the measure in the above areas, the issue of Sunday opening for all stores in the spring of 2015 will be re-examined, without ruling out full deregulation of store opening hours throughout the country.
On the occasion of the forthcoming summer sales, the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (ESEE) issued instructions to the commercial federations and societies, so that their members are reminded of their sales obligations required by law.
During the sales, stores are obligated to indicate on every piece of good on sale a dual price, one being the price before the sales (usually crossed-out) and the other being the price after the sales discount. It is up to the business’ discretion to mention the discount percentage, although in this case the word ‘discount’ should accompany the percentage (e.g. “50% discount”). There are large fines awaiting those who mention fake discount prices or percentages.
ESEE also called the consumers to refrain from buying goods from illegal street vendors “who do not offer quality, warranties or receipts”.
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