photo: Jan Svoboda, PrahaIN.cz/Potraviny, illustrative photo
REPORT: On Boxing Day our editorial team traveled outside Prague. Along the way we saw a large number of shops open and could not complain about the number of customers.
Both Christmas holidays, 25 and 26 December, are subject to the Sales Hours Act 2016. This requires all retailers with a sales area exceeding 200 square meters to be closed on public holidays. Petrol stations, pharmacies, shops at airports and train stations are exempt.
For example, almost all Alza stores were also open by default, as it is not a sale, but a simple delivery of goods, as we reported HERE. On the road out of Prague we also came across a relatively large number of open convenience stores and shops, where queues of people were heading.
Almost every village has a shop
Our destination was Loket Castle in the Karlovy Vary region. Therefore, we had to pass through a series of smaller and larger villages and towns. Almost everyone had a small convenience store, typically a Coop store or a Vietnamese convenience store. We were impressed by the number of people who took their purchases home.
In one of the villages several shopping citizens were already heading to the store. It was around ten in the morning. Armed with bags, they entered the shop area, which was visibly lit and therefore inviting to visit. However, we do not dare to guess whether it was a shop larger than 200 square meters.
Elsewhere we met residents returning home from the shop. He revealed to them a full shopping bag combined with cartons of milk in his hands. “People can no longer go two days without shopping. So that they don’t die of hunger”, rightly commented one of the passers-by who was walking his dog.
We have written
They say Christmas is a holiday of peace and tranquility. Most people don’t work. However, there are areas where the work simply needs to be done. We will mention for everyone…
Delivery works without restrictions. But they don’t go to the village
On Christmas Day, people could go to large grocery chains to make their last purchases until noon. Shops did not reopen until December 27. The restriction does not traditionally apply to delivery services, which were able to operate completely without restrictions even during holidays, which many Prague residents also took advantage of.
However, residents of smaller villages further from the city are not eligible for such options. Delivery services often do not reach them at all. “No one will bring my shopping here. As for food, at most pizza from the neighboring town, but they are also closed there for Christmas,” an acquaintance who lives in a village near Plzeň told our editorial team.
Perhaps this is also why many small traders have decided to stay open at Christmas.
2023-12-30 04:29:13
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