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Is Switzerland set to allow shops to open on Sundays?

The debate over shops opening on a Sunday in Switzerland has been rumbling on for years. But now the Economy Minister has spoken out in favour of changing the rules. Will it happen?

Published: 29 August 2023 12:19 CEST
A shopping street in Lucerne, Switzerland.
A shopping street in Lucerne, Switzerland. Photo by Jannis Lucas on Unsplash

It’s one of the quirks that many foreigners who come to live in Switzerland struggle with: on Sunday it is hard to buy things. 

Yes, shops at petrol and train stations, as well as ski resorts, are allowed to open their doors. But in general, retailers – including supermarkets – are required by Swiss law to shut on Sundays. 

The closure, which is regulated by labour law, used to be down to religious reasons. However, nowadays trade unions argue that Sundays should remain a day of rest for workers to be able to spend time with their loved ones without being stuck on a rota and possibly working both days of the weekend.

READ ALSO: Why is everything in Switzerland closed on Sunday – and what can you do instead?

But could this be about to change?

In the last few months, pressure has been building on politicians to relax these rules. 

In July, Zurich and Geneva, along with Ticino and Lucerne, asked the Federal Council to permit more Sunday shopping in parts of these cantons that have particularly high tourist traffic.

Now Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin has said he wants to see more shop allowed to open on Sundays  in major Swiss cities.

Pamelin believes that allowing big shopping streets to open could attract more tourists.

The Swiss Department of Economic Affairs (EAER) confirmed that Sunday opening is “envisaged in urban tourist areas”. And it is moving ahead with plans. At the end of November, an “external consultation on this topic will be opened”, according to Urs Wiedmer, spokesman for the EAER. This process normally takes three months.

The plans are reportedly based on an initiative by Zurich’s Director of Economic Affairs, Carmen Walker Späh (FDP).

Under the proposals, cantons would determine where a need for extended Sunday opening exists. 

Areas such as the Altstadt, Bahnhofstrasse and Europaallee in Zurich are under discussion as tourism zones, while the central districts in Lucerne, Lugano and Bern are also possible streets that could see Sunday shop openings.

In Geneva, the Rue du Rhône and the Rue du Marché are likely tourist zones, while in Basel the focus is on Freie Strasse. In Lausanne, Place Saint-François and Rue de Bourg could get the green light to open shops on Sundays. 

However, trade unions are sceptical about the proposals. 

“Although tourism in the cities has returned to pre-corona levels, they are now trying to continue the ‘salami tactics’,” Adrian Wüthrich, president of the trade union umbrella organisation Travailsuisse, told Blick. He referenced how it started with shops being allowed to open in tourist resorts and stations – and now it is moving to city centres.

So despite the moves, it could be a long process and there may be some pushback on Sunday opening in Switzerland. Watch this space. 

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LIVING IN SWITZERLAND

REVEALED: How Switzerland’s native-English speakers are growing in number

Some Swiss cities have higher concentrations of foreign residents than others. A new study reveals where most of them live and interestingly how more and more of them are native English-speakers.

Published: 23 April 2024 15:21 CEST
REVEALED: How Switzerland's native-English speakers are growing in number

Foreigners who move to Switzerland like to settle in the cities.

This is what emerges from a new study published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Tuesday.

Surprisingly, the municipality with the highest number of foreign residents is not Zurich or Geneva, but Kreuzlingen in canton Thurgau, where 56.3 percent of the population are foreigners.

Next is Rorschach in St. Gallen, where just over half (50.6 percent) of residents are foreign.

In terms of regions, however, more towns in the French-speaking part of the country have a high proportion of non-Swiss.

In the first place is the Lausanne suburb of Renens, where 49.3 percent of inhabitants are foreign.

It is followed by Geneva (49.2 percent) and its districts Meyrin (45.4 percent) and Vernier (44.8 percent). Next are Vaud municipalities of Montreux (44.2 percent) and Yverdon (37.7 percent).

The study doesn’t indicate why exactly so many immigrants move to these particular towns, but generally new arrivals tend to settle in or near places where they work.

Another interesting finding: English language is gaining ground

“If we consider non-national languages, it is striking to see that English has developed significantly,” FSO reports.

“It is today the main language of 8.1 percent of the resident population.”

This has also been shown in another FSO study in March, which indicated that  English is not only the most prevalent foreign language in Switzerland, but in some regions even ‘outperforms’ national languages.

In French-speaking Geneva, for instance, 11.8 percent of the population speak English — more than 5.7 percent who speak Italian. And in the neighbouring Vaud, 9.1 percent of residents speak English, versus 4.9 percent for both German and Italian.

In Basel-City, where the main language is German, 12.5 percent speak English, 6.1 percent Italian, and 5 percent French.

And in Zurich,10.8 percent speak English, versus only 5.8 percent for Italian and 3.2 percent French.

The ‘ winner’ however, is the German-speaking Zug, where 14.1 percent of the population over the age of 15 has English as their primary language. 

READ ALSO : Where in Switzerland is English most widely used? 

What else does the study reveal?

It shows to what extent Switzerland’s population ‘migrated’ from rural areas to cities over the past century.

While only a third of the country’s residents lived in urban regions 100 years ago, the 170 Swiss cities and their agglomerations are now home to three-quarters of the population.

As a result of this evolution, “new cities sprang up, many political and spatial boundaries were moved, and the country became increasingly urban.”

With a population of 427,000, Zurich is still the most populated city, followed by Geneva (204,000) and Basel (174,000).

And there is more: Fewer people practice religion

The proportion of people who feel they belong to a traditional religion is generally falling, FSO found.

This downward trend concerns all religions, but it is strongest among people of the Reformed Evangelical faith.

In six towns in particular — Bussigny, Crissier, and Ecublens (VD), Kloten, and Opfikon (ZH), as well as Oftringen (AR) — the drop was of more than 70 percent.
 
 READ ALSO: Why so many Swiss are quitting the church and taking their money with them

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