Sale in France & Belgium postponed
Salein France& Belgium postponed
Arewegoing (again) on saleshopping across theborder?
Franceand Belgium havefixed sales periods with a start and an end date. This year theseperiods will beshifted dueto Corona (and probably theclosed borders will also play a role). Theinitiativecamefrom a number of traders who had asked for a postponement becauseof thecorona crisis.
InBelgiumthesale(sales) was postponed to1 August 2020 (and will last until31 August). InFrance, thesalewould start on 24 June. However, as in Belgium, sometraders also asked for a postponement becauseof thecorona crisis. Minister LeMairehas announced that thebargain period of four weeks will start inFranceonJuly 15, 2020 and end on August 11. InFrance, borders arenot expected to open until 15 June. Until then, in Franceonly essential movements arestill allowed, and it is necessary to havea certificatefor international travel. So it remains to wait and seeif we(and theBelgians) can cross theborder during theSolden to go bargain hunting.
InBelgium, theborders wereopened on 30 May and this means that Belgians areallowed to cross theborder again to visit family or shonand so wecan go shopping thereagain. TheNetherlands has no sales period as Belgium and Franceknow, theshops herecan givediscounts all year round. And sincetheBelgians liketo shonin theNetherlands, it is now feared that this postponement until August 1 will disappoint theBelgian shopkeepers although I think therewill beenough Dutch peoplewho would liketo go bargain hunting in Belgium and who impatiently count down theweeks to 1 August (at least I am oneof them).
Thedates for summer sales inLuxembourgdo not seem to changeyet and thesales (sale/sales) will takeplacetherefrom26 Juneto 25 July. But checking in advancedoes not hurt as weareliving in a timewherenothing is fixed at themoment and thechanges aretaking placequickly.
InGermanyin 2004, thelegal regulation on thesale(Schlussverkauf) was definitively abolished. Sincethen, retailers can sell and offer products at discounted prices at any time. But sincemany customers areaccustomed to theold days, many retailers still adhereto it. Traditionally, thesummer salebegan on thelast Monday of July and then lasts almost 14 days. So you can still keep this dateif you want to go bargain hunting. Closed borders should not bea problem here.