If you still need groceries, you should hurry. Supermarkets, discounters and drugstores only have limited opening hours on New Year’s Eve. FOCUS Online explains until when you can shop at Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, Edeka, Kaufland, Hit and Co. on December 31st.
On New Year’s Eve, all supermarkets such as Rewe, Edeka, Kaufland, Real, Hit, Familia and Co. are not open all day. The same applies to discounters such as Aldi Süd, Aldi Nord, Lidl, Penny, Norma or Netto Marken-Discount. But drugstore chains such as dm, Müller and Rossmann also close earlier on New Year’s Eve.
Similar to Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve is one of the “indirect silent working days”. Operators are therefore allowed to keep their shops open all day nationwide on December 31st. The applicable closing times are regulated by the “Law on Shop Closing Hours” of the federal states. But very few follow this rule.
Many supermarkets and discounters close in the early afternoon on New Year’s Eve to relieve employees. But they open at 6 or 7 a.m. (instead of 8 a.m., for example).
In many cases supermarkets only work with an early and middle shift staffing on New Year’s Eve. The late service is cancelled. Customers should keep this in mind if they still need last-minute purchases.
With this, operators primarily want to express their gratitude to the staff. At the same time, no more food and non-food products will be delivered from the afternoon. This gives employees time to prepare for celebrating New Year’s Eve with the family. Insiders report in an interview with FOCUS Online that there is generally little going on in the branches in the afternoon. It is therefore hardly profitable to keep the branches open until the evening hours.
As a rule, Rewe, Edeka, Aldi Süd, Aldi Nord, Lidl and Co. all over Germany close at 2 p.m. Then consumers can no longer shop there. Exceptions apply to companies with a high number of customers. These are, for example, branches in the city center. Shops here often don’t close until 4 p.m.
Only supermarket branches that provide vacationers and tourists with travel provisions are open until 8 p.m. In some federal states even until midnight. These are often Edeka or Rewe-To-Go branches directly in train stations or at airports.
Check the official websites of Aldi Süd, Aldi Nord, Edeka and Co. to find out the opening times. You can access the branch locator via the following links:
From January 2, 2023, all supermarkets, discounters and drugstores will be open to consumers again during regular opening hours.
On New Year’s Eve, shopping is usually no longer possible after 12 p.m. or 1 p.m. Some bakeries sell bread until 2 p.m. But if you still need bread, croissants or baguettes after 4 p.m., you will probably be disappointed. You should have bought meat, sausage and catering from the butcher before noon on New Year’s Eve.
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In the Corona year, the federal and state governments wanted to limit the firing of firecrackers and rockets on New Year’s Eve with a unified line so as not to burden the hospitals even more. But each federal state goes its own way, in some cases the state governments even refer to municipalities and communities. The most important rules at a glance.
