Retailers Call For Longer Hours During Cup
April 22, 2005
Not content with the Goleo-emblazoned merchandise, the t-shirts and mugs plastered with the chortling numerals of the World Cup 2006 logos and the rack upon rack of ever-sp-slightly related apparel, German shop owners are hoping to cash in further on the soccer spectacle coming their way next summer by keeping their stores open longer.
With hundreds of thousands of visitors expected in Germany for the 2006 World Cup finals, retailers are lobbying the government to extend the tightly regulated shopping hours during the tournament -- and even achieve the ultimate victory of getting them to allow Sunday trading.
Officials from the Federation of German Retail Trade, the country's biggest retailing federation, have called for shop hours to be extended beyond their normal 6 p.m. closing time on weekdays, and on Saturdays, when most shops close by 4 p.m. and others close by 8 p.m.
World Cup reason enough to change rules
Hubertus Pellengahr, a spokesman for the federation, made the case earlier this week when he told reporters that, with scores of tourists and soccer fans set to arrive for the June 9-July 9 World Cup, it would make sense to keep shops open, at least in the 12 cities where the games will be played. Pellengahr said the scope of the World Cup is reason enough to change closing times, if only during the event.
"If individual places make the decision, then that should apply everywhere as well as the sites of the matches," he commented on Monday. Pellengahr hoped that the measures, if accepted, would stretch to Sunday opening but admitted that this would be tougher than extending the hours on other days.
A similar move for longer hours was made ahead of this June's Confederations Cup, but that was rejected.
Longer hours could help depressed economy
Germany's Supreme Court ruled last year that shops must stay closed on Sundays and public holidays in line with a 49-year-old law that critics contend is a relic of a bygone age. Depressed consumer spending has weighed heavily on Germany's economy, which is struggling to gain momentum after nearly four years of stagnation.
Thirty-two teams will play in the World Cup, with venues in Berlin, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Hanover, Kaiserslautern, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart.