There is, but not nearly as restrictive. Stores can be open from at least 6 to 20 any day of the week other than Sunday and in most states in Germany, Sunday trading has been at least partially permitted.
In Austria you cannot even operate a fully automated grocery store (either by vending machines or something like Amazon Go) without being afoul of the regulation.
> There is, but not nearly as restrictive. Stores can be open from at least 6 to 20 any day of the week other than Sunday
I just looked up the corresponding law for Austria, and they are allowed to open from 6 to 21 on weekdays, and 6 to 18 on Saturdays. Doesn't really seem more restrictive?
> and in most states in Germany, Sunday trading has been at least partially permitted.
And keep in mind that even for those cities it's not all stores. I checked Cologne as an example, and there it's for example only stores in the district Köln-Lindenthal.
You misread the law. Only for a total of 72 hours. So if you were to open from 6 to 21 you couldn’t open Saturday at all and would have to close early ok Friday.
In practical terms most supermarkets in Austria close at around 7pm.
In Austria you cannot even operate a fully automated grocery store (either by vending machines or something like Amazon Go) without being afoul of the regulation.