Mall of Switzerland wants longer opening hours

Store opening hours in the canton of Lucerne are among the most restrictive in Switzerland: on weekdays, stores are open until 6:30 p.m., and on Saturdays only until 4 p.m.. The situation is better in neighboring cantons: Sihlcity in Zurich Brunau, for example, is open until 8 p.m. from Monday to Saturday.

The current practice puts Lucerne shopping centers at a disadvantage compared to neighboring cantons, mall spokesman Werner Schaeppi told 20 minutes. His main argument is that the Mall of Switzerland will become a major tourist attraction for the Lucerne region and the whole of Central Switzerland. "We therefore think that we will be granted correspondingly longer opening hours," says Schaeppi. The cantonal law on store closing hours offers room for a special regulation, according to which the municipality can allow stores specifically geared to tourism to stay open until 10:30 p.m.

However, the municipality of Ebikon does not have much leeway, writes 20 minutes. This is because the special regulation only applies to clearly defined tourism communities such as the city of Lucerne or some lakeside communities like Weggis, but not to Ebikon. Theoretically, however, Ebikon could work towards also being considered a tourism community in the future. Longer opening hours are also currently being discussed at the federal level, with the idea of opening hours until at least 8 p.m. on weekdays throughout Switzerland.

The Mall of Switzerland will comprise 150 stores on a sales area of 46,000 sqm, with Migros as the anchor tenant. In addition, there will be 5,000 sqm for gastronomy, a multiplex cinema with twelve screens, and in the leisure area, among other things, a "standing wave" for surfers operated by Jochen Schweizer. Halter is building the mall, and the Freo Group is developing it. The investor is a company of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).