Greece Relaxes Sunday Shopping Rules to Boost Economy
Thursday, 01 January 1970
Greece relaxed its restrictive Sunday shopping rules but went back on plans for full liberalisation after strong opposition by small retailers and the Orthodox Church, Reuters reported.
In a bid to spur the economy, Parliament passed on Wednesday a law allowing retailers to stay open seven Sundays a year, up from currently two.
"With this measure we want to revive the centres of big cities," Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis said, as quoted by Reuters.
The union of small Greek retailers ESEE has said full liberalisation would fail to boost sales and instead just raise operating costs by a quarter.