One of the first culture shocks when you arrive in Switzerland doesn’t come from the forms or the queues at government offices. It comes on a random Sunday. You need milk, or something to eat, or you’ve simply forgotten to buy bread. You step outside and discover that everything is closed. Migros is closed. Coop is closed. The chemist’s is closed. The bakery is closed. The butcher’s is closed. It’s Sunday and it’s Switzerland – that’s just the way it is.
Shop opening hours in Switzerland are regulated by law, with the cantons having some discretion regarding exceptions. The general rule is that shops do not open on Sundays. Bern allows shops to open on two Sundays a year. Geneva authorises bakeries to remain open on Sundays until 7 pm and permits three Sundays of general opening for shops if there is an extended collective labour agreement in place. Valais has its own rules. There are cantons such as Aargau where the regulations are less strict. But in practice, if you go to the supermarket on a Sunday, you will find it closed in the vast majority of cases.
The shops that are open are those at railway stations (Migrolino, K Kiosk, BreakShop), airports and petrol stations. In medium-sized towns, if you run out of anything you need on a Sunday, you can sort it out at the Migrolino at the station, although it’s quite a bit more expensive than a normal supermarket. The alternative is to wait until Monday. And whilst we’re on the subject: on 1 August, Swiss National Day, the same rules apply as on Sundays, with no exceptions. If you need anything for that week, you know when to buy it.
In Spain, Sunday shopping habits vary depending on the autonomous community and the time of year, particularly in summer. Not here, though. Once you’ve taken this on board, planning your weekly shop is no longer optional. Many people learn this on their first Sunday here, when the fridge is half-empty and all the shops are closed.