New store hours in effect

THE House yesterday voted into law the new supermarket hours, which will allow stores to stay open on Saturdays until 7.30pm in the summer and 7pm in the winter.

Under the new law, the Wednesday half-day will stay in effect, but the closing hours will be pushed back until 3pm. Stores can open as early as 5am and the midday closing of stores will be optional.

Bakeries and confectionaries can be open 24 hours, while kiosks selling alcohol and tobacco and florists can stay open until 10pm.

Stores that break the law face penalties of up to one year in jail and £10,000 in fines.
The Supermarkets’ Association has criticised the new plan as “catastrophic” in failing to serve storeowners and consumers, claiming that the reality of 21st century modern life requires longer opening hours without breaks.

During yesterday’s House Labour Committee, Labour Minister Andreas Vassiliou called the new plan “balanced”, “just” and “centrally concerned with the citizen”.

The supermarket association asked the government to push back the Monday through Saturday opening hours from 5am to 7am and then add those 12 hours of operation to the half-days on Wednesday and Saturday.

But Vassiliou referred to their suggestion as “trickery”, noting that early morning hours cannot be equated with evening hours. He added that stores are not obliged to open at 5am.

The new schedule was voted into the House yesterday with 39 votes in favour of the law and two abstentions, both from European Party MPs.

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