Not all shops are closed on Sundays

Not all shops are closed on Sundays

No, not all are closed, as already stated:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 27#2706690

dezpapp wrote:

While philosophy is a great pastime, it can hardly fill your belly on a long Sunday afternoon.

More simple rules*:

1) Plan ahead.
2) Have a well stocked pantry or kitchen cupboard with canned** goods.

If unable to follow these simple rules consider fasting for one day good for the soul, mind and spirit. (And to reflect why, oh why, you did not follow two simple rules )

*Also useful for when it is -10° outside and you do not want to go out to food shop.

**Canned food is great to store and ignore until you need them -- but cans do have expiration dates,  and will not last forever, so practice a good rotation system.

I agree klsallee yet you will always find people forgetting things - where I have put the keys, remote you name it

What about Slovakia?  If I hop on the train and cross at Komarom / Komarno, will there be an open TESCO there or are the laws the same.

By the way, thanks for the information. I like this thread.  To me, it's a bit of a challenge or maybe it's the rebel in me to try to find places open on Sunday

Walking into town this afternoon, I was struck by all the shops already closed at 2 pm on a Saturday, to remain closed until Monday. Clothes shops, book shops, chemists, you name it. I had a couple of thoughts:

1. The overall impression was like being in the Soviet Union, where they theoretically had shops, but they were completely pointless, as they either sold nothing of any use or quality or were constantly closed for "reinventorisation." The lack of any lights on inside the buildings also made a poor impression from the outside and will get noticeable as the days shorten and nights grow longer. Not a very encouraging image for the capital city of a modern European state.

2. I thought how sad it is to pay rent and all the other bills on a commercial property, and then keep it shut for over half of the potential rental time! This time I was reminded of Italy, where I used to pass shops where I would have liked to have gone in and browsed or purchased something, except that they were *always* closed! Closed on Mondays or for an interminable siesta every day from two to five in the afternoon... Then I would pass them again and see a sign on the window for a closing-down sale (liquidazione). I wonder if the penny every dropped in the owner's head why the business had gone bankrupt? And a shame, because we are talking about small traders here, not some ubiquitous mobile-phone supplier or chainstore...

Not a huge issue to not shop on Sundays except that Saturdays are even more crowed then they used to be when shops were open everyday.
We should not complain though at least we have big stores to shop in.
In the old "commie" days my MIL would work a full 8 to 10 hour days standing then run to several different shops after work to buy food. Back then one had to go to a produce store, then a bakery then a dairy shop. She spent another couple of hours waiting in lines then came home and cooked a dinner for her family.
Not much in the way of frozen fast foods then either. Used to have allot more fantastic deli's around the city though, casino eggs, salads of all sorts to eat there or take out.
Don't see ready deli shops as much now.
A little planning making sure one has enough bread and other basics in the home works out, if not there is always a place for a quick snack or a good day to fast.
The thing that surprised us was we didn't know the entire malls were closed. Thought the small chain stores selling clothing and other dry goods would be open. Noticed only a few food vendors open in the Arena Plaza on Sunday, was very strange walking around looking at closed shops.
One less day for them to make bank.
In some ways it may be good for the workers, at least they can count on Sunday's off to relax. Where we lived in Las Vegas everything was pretty much open 7 days a week 24/7. Not fun to be the employee who gets stuck doing Sundays every week.

Sumarokov wrote:

I thought how sad it is to pay rent and all the other bills on a commercial property, and then keep it shut for over half of the potential rental time!

The current "closed on Sunday" law in Hungary allows small sole-proprietor "mom and pop" stores to stay open on Sunday. One of the "ideas" of the law was to give the small, local, Hungarian businesses a competitive advantage to the big international businesses. Which, is not such a bad idea. If one wants to really support local small businesses.

Unfortunately, from my experience, these small "mom and pop" stores have little to offer (on Sunday or any day of the week). While we are in the 21st century, they seem stuck in the 19th century. Politicians can create all the laws they want, but they can not change the daily realities of a society by simply passing this or that legislation.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

In some ways it may be good for the workers, at least they can count on Sunday's off to relax.

When I was an employee in the States, I always requested the weekend shift. Then I got a day off in the week. Banks, government offices, etc. are typically open during the week, not on weekends. If I needed to deal with some some government issues, no problem: I had "Wednesday off" anyway and the line at the DMV was manageable. And taking the week day to go skiing or to the beach meant a lot fewer people, smaller crowed, shorter lines for the lift, etc. Being single and without children I could exploit this as a benefit, and I loved it. This as advertised in Hungary as a "family friendly" concept of no work Sundays ignores the fact there are also single works who are affected (often adversely).

For example, I went to a Lake Balaton beach this year on Sunday, I never saw such a huge crowd. Standing room only it seemed. In nearly 20 years, I had never seen it so crowded. Will never do that again. Essentially giving "most everyone" Sunday off has collateral social consequences that politicians have exactly zero clue about.

Sadly I must agree with you on the attitude of so many small shops.
So many small rip off's over the years that we no longer consider them when shopping.
Would rather bake a loaf of hard homemade bread on Sunday if needed then pay double for a day old loaf from a tiny Sunday open shop.
Guess I have slowly become Hungarian, very picky about where and how I spend my cash,  money.
Funny though, next week we are visiting Vegas and dropping a few bucks in a slot machine doesn't even enter our radar of wasting.
here in HU we check out every single forint and compare shop, double life...
Once we went into a butcher in our district, was in there a few times with no issues.
My husband for some lame reason wanted to buy ( yuck) pig's feet.
They sing outside the shop had them on sale for almost nothing.
We ordered a kilo and after the man wrapped them up he charged us as if we had bought prime rib!
My husband told him it was too much and his sign outside had the price list. The guy just walked outside, turned the sign around and told us that was no longer an option! My husband told him where he could put his hairy old pig's feet and we never went back to him again.
I made the HUGE mistake of speaking in English, English = 8 x's $$! Guess that's the new math here.! Not where I come from.
Sad because we would actually love to support small business.
Years ago we went into a small import business here in HU with several HU. Everyone flaked out, over charged and we had a heck of a time getting our money back on goods we had loaned them to sale. Never again.
In the US new businesses give deals and discounts, know they have to build trust and take care of clients. Sad here in Hungary, it is not a customers are always right attitude, it's a get what you can at the moment attitude.
We remember the dozen or so shops where they treated  us like idiots, will never go back again, some are now long gone, no surprise there!
Going to be a joy to shop in the US, 30 days no questions asked returns and cash back on any purchase!!
Then again once in a blue moon you find some great sales people here, not enough to write home about but there are a few...