Public life during weekends after 6 pm

[sakthykarthik]

Hello,

I am quite new to Helsinki. I stay in Espoo. I find that most of the shops even the malls are closed after 6 pm during the weekends. Of course, there are some shops which are open thankfully. But just wondering if this trend would atleast change during the summer..i.e. atleast till 8 pm or something.

Regards,
Sakthy

[Rosamunda]

No. Shops close at 6pm at weekends. It's the law.

[Jukka Aho]

I am quite new to Helsinki. I stay in Espoo. I find that most of the shops even the malls are closed after 6 pm during the weekends. Of course, there are some shops which are open thankfully. But just wondering if this trend would atleast change during the summer..i.e. atleast till 8 pm or something.

Not really, as the opening hours are generally regulated by the law. Here’s a rundown of the regulations – in Finnish. There are exceptions, though, such as stores with less than 400 m² floor area which are exempt from the general rules.

The legal opening hours of the stores are and have been a subject of much political (and even religious!) debate for decades. Attitudes have lately developed into a more permissive direction but as it stands, stores still aren’t allowed to choose their opening hours freely. People who oppose the free opening hours usually quote the Bible or have a more generic idea about the society “needing to set aside days for rest”... or represent trade unions who feel their members (store clerks etc.) would be put at a disadvantage when compared to the current situation if they regularly had to work irregular hours or were called to work on a “day of rest”.