Thumbs up for Sunday trading.

10 Dec, 2005

While Linz shopkeepers await the constitutional court ruling on Sunday trading, attitudes in Austria are changing. A recent poll by market research institute Spectra has found that two-thirds of Austrians are in favour of more flexible shopping hours and that they would shop on Sunday if they could. In 2000 only 50 percent responded positively to the same question. In Vienna many shop owners have taken the law into their own hands and open on Sundays despite the threat of administrative penalties. The Vienna Chamber of Commerce has been debating the question for some time, but one of the major supporters of Sunday opening hours, the Austrian Hotel Association, has suggested that the matter should be put to the test and shops should be allowed to open for a few Sundays.