Shopping hours

Customs and regulations for shopping hours (times that shops are open) vary from country to country.

In the Netherlands each town has the evening of either Thursday or Friday designated as shopping evening. In most cases it is Thursday. Towns for which it is Friday include:

• Bergen op Zoom
• Delft
• Eindhoven
• Oegstgeest
• Rotterdam

On regular evenings most shops close at 6 p.m., but supermarkets often at 8 or 9, sometimes 10 p.m. Many towns have one or more little supermarkets that are open until later in the evening, occasionally all night. A regular size supermarket that is open until midnight seven days a week is Food Village at Schiphol Airport (before customs, hence not only for air travellers).

Each state in Australia sets its own standard trading hours, but in most of the country the shops are open seven days a week for at least part of the day.