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In The Netherlands, opening times were strictly regulated by law up to 1984 : no openings on Sunday, weekdays not later than 18:00 and Saturday no later than 17

• zozbot234 5y ago
  > One of the reasons listed for the regulation is the protection of 'Mom & Pop' stores. A silly motivation. Smaller-scale businesses on the "convenience store" model are more likely to provide extended opening hours than any large store operation. That's as close to "Mom & Pop" as it gets.
  • the-dude 5y ago
    I don't get your POV. I talked about the 80s and 90s and a healthy work/life balance was still a political talking point at the time.
    • Macha 5y ago
      Also single worker households, which meant there was someone to patronise those stores while the breadwinner was themselves working. (To be clear, I'm not saying everything was great in the days of "all women are house wives" but it would have been nice if the stigma of a house husband went away instead, rather than the actual turn out of "both adults must work").
      • crimthrw2022 5y ago
        > rather than the actual turn out of "both adults must work"). It was almost an inevitably. Especially for the middle class, I would imagine that both sides of the couple working provided a substantial boost in economic mobility. Or at least a perceived one. At that point its just keeping up with the joneses.
  • jacquesm 5y ago
    The motivation was religious.
    • the-dude 5y ago
      The Winkeltijdenwet was instated in 1976 when we had the Den Uyl government, which consisted of Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA), Katholieke Volkspartij (KVP), Anti-Revolutionaire Partij (ARP), Politieke Partij Radikalen (PPR) en de Democraten 66 (D'66) That is a lot of left radicals and only 1 religious party.
      • jacquesm 5y ago
        As you are no doubt aware concessions are often made to smaller parties in order to secure their votes on other subjects is well established in Dutch politics.
        • the-dude 5y ago
          There is no reason to assume the left wanted to work on Sunday.
          • jacquesm 5y ago
            https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-24226-3.html https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-24226-3.html And many others besides. Really, why would you even try to argue something that is pretty much settled history at this point in time? The Netherlands historically had a very strong religious streak running through it and one of the last vestiges of their direct influence on Dutch society is the 'Winkelsluitingstijden' law.
            • the-dude 5y ago
              That link is a wall of text. Could you please quote what is supposedly proving your point? Because I can't find it.
    • 5y ago
• wongarsu 5y ago
  Same thing in Germany. All shops are closed on Sundays and bank holidays, and while opening times on weekdays have been deregulated in most states, some - like Bavaria - still enforce opening times of no more than 6:00 to 20:00 or 6:00 to 22:00. I'm generally a fan of longer opening times, but having a day where everyone but entertainment and hospitality has free time simultaneously seems very healthy for both families and society at large.
  • rsynnott 5y ago
    > All shops are closed on Sundays and bank holidays Unless, of course, they are in a train station. This loophole seems to be _heavily_ exploited.