FDP is planning Advent Sundays that are open for shopping: the future of retail in Hesse!

FDP is planning Advent Sundays that are open for shopping: the future of retail in Hesse!

On November 29, 2025 there will be exciting news from Hessian retail. The FDP chairman Stefan Naas has presented a bill for a Sunday open for shopping in Advent. The aim of this initiative is to strengthen local retail and offer customers more flexibility. Naas emphasized concerns about the economic situation of owner-managed businesses in view of growing competition from online retail. Concepts for an Advent Sunday open to shopping could be put in place as early as 2026.

The proposal would allow shops to open on one of the first three Sundays of Advent, but only if there is a local event, such as a Christmas market. On these days, the shops should be open for up to six hours, but should close by 8 p.m. at the latest so that the traditionally high church activities on Advent Sundays are not disrupted. This regulation would focus in particular on city centers, while hardware stores and similar establishments outside of cities would not be affected, which Naas criticized as “very conservative” and spoke of outdated legislation.

A need for change

According to Naas, the current regulations do not correspond to the reality of life for many retailers. The FDP chairman pointed out that the party already allowed small automated sales points on Sundays in the summer of 2022. In other federal states, such as North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria, several shopping Sundays are already permitted, which makes competitive conditions in Hesse more difficult. Jochen Ruths, President of the Hesse Trade Association, supports the FDP's demand. He emphasizes that the possibility of opening on one of the four Sundays in Advent would be an important step for Hessian trade.

In Hesse, shopping Sundays are subject to certain conditions. Holidays such as Good Friday or Sunday of the Dead are excluded from this regulation. The sales time is limited to six hours and often takes place in conjunction with special events. Popular shopping destinations in Hesse include the Nord West Zentrum and the Hessen-Center in Frankfurt am Main, which are regularly frequented by shoppers. There is also scope for future shopping Sundays.

Rules for store opening times

In order to provide an overview of the current shop opening times, the regulation in Hesse states that shops are allowed to open from Monday to Saturday from midnight to midnight, with a shortened opening time until 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. The application of the laws on Sunday shopping also stipulates that shops may be open a maximum of four times a year for six hours on Sundays each. This usually happens outside of main service times in order to take church practices into account offenbach.ihk.de.

With the new draft law, the FDP in Hesse not only wants to adjust the opening times, but also take an important step towards modernizing retail. The proposals are expected to be discussed in the plenary session of the state parliament in the second week of December and could be implemented soon - and thus perhaps significantly loosen up the shopping atmosphere during Advent.