Summer Sales 2025 Pyrenees-Orientales
The summer sales 2024 in the P-O have been set by the préfecture for a period of 6 weeks starting on Wednesday 25th June at 8h00 until Tuesday 22nd July. During the sale period, shops are usually allowed to open on a couple of Sundays
ABOUT SALES IN FRANCE
Summer sales usually take place from the last week of June/first week of July, and winter sales around the second week of January. (Special promotions do not count as ‘sales’ and can take place whenever the shop wishes, as long as they conform to certain conditions.)
Summer and winter sale dates in the Pyrenees Orientales are sometimes different from the majority of departments in France because it is a border region.
In 2009, a law proposed by Sarkozy, was passed allowing shops to open on Sundays in tourist areas and some large towns, despite an outcry from the Catholic church, and protests from most political paries including his own!
When challenged at the time, Sarkozy said “Our country has the greatest number of tourists in the world – 80 million a year. Is it normal that on a Sunday, when Mrs Obama wants to take her daughters shopping in Paris, I have to make a phone call to ask the shops to open? How do I explain to the Obamas why on Sunday, we’re the only country that’s closed?”
When the law was first passed, many large stores expressed little interest, stating that it was not worth their while to open on Sunday and pay double time or time-off in lieu. The Sunday opening hour laws which apply today are complicated and involve many applications and the usual ton of paperwork.
However, since June 2014, shops and supermarkets selling food can open on Sunday morning.
Here in the P-O, laws in Figueras across the border in Spain allowing shops to open on Sunday, and the proximity of the 7 day opening Le Perthus and La Jonquera have been particularly damaging for the region’s commerce.
The Sunday closing laws actually date back 100 years to a law which grants employees the right to 24 hours complete rest in any six-day period, and is not due to religion as many believe. Although employees can volunteer to work extra hours, they may well be entitled to up to 300% of their basic wage or an extra day in lieu.
More and more shops are remaining open in France on Sundays and Bank holidays, but here in the P-O, it proves particularly hard to find staff who are happy to work more hours their 35 hour contract.