Everyone in Germany - where can I drive (over the border even) to find Sunday shopping?!!

[pinotgrigio]

I'm currently on a short contract in Germany (Dusseldorf). I've managed to last a whole month shivering with DD in parks on Sundays, but now have to spend some time doing quality shopping. Does anybody know any decent huge open-on-Sunday malls near the German border? Holland/Luxembourg/Belgium?? Ideally with soft play centre? Please?

Bump. Hellooo? I know you're all out there. Hausfrau?

Not very helpful since I am used to being near the less useful border, but in Switzerland there's an exception for railroad stations, so the Hauptbahnhof always has a mall attached. Not the mall of anybody's dreams, but a viable alternative to shivering in parks. Probably not worth going to Basle for, though -- check your local one. In France you can at least legally buy groceries on a Sunday morning, but not much help for quality shopping. Although the fines are lower in France so really touristy places violate the Sunday laws and just pay up if caught, but that only helps if you are near a touristy city and interested in buying something in its most touristy part.

california girl, if you are thinking of places like Zurich HB then they are fine for an English Sunday paper, if you run out of milk or need a pair of socks but not much more ! Not really worth a special trip expecially all the way from Dusseldorf. However next Sunday 19th the Zurich stores are open 11-5 as a one-off (plus usually 2 Sundays in December) to launch this summer's Teddy Bear event - decorated bear statues around the city streets.

I´m unfortunately stuck right in the middle of Germany, so no chance of making a break for the borders at the weekend. Dh used to live in Dusseldorf and reckons Maastricht (?sp) and Venlo are the nearest Dutch towns but he doesn´t think the shops there open on a Sunday either (isn´t 100% sure). Sorry I couldn´t be of more help, but believe me, I know exactly how you feel.

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lol Hausfrau - we did that too ! Sunday trading, shops that open the same hours each day, no lunchtime closing, 24 hour supermarkets ... if only !

I quite like it that they still have Sundays in Germany. Why is it that in the UK we start to panic if the shops are going to be shut for the next 24 hrs?! We have a 24-hr Tescos here, and loads of shops open on Sundays. It's not really necessary, is it?

It took me a while to get used to it when I lived there, but I quite liked it after a bit. Had some fantastic Sundays, without any retail therapy at all.

LIZS, I didn't know hte shops were open on Sunday! But you did mean 29th didn't you?

Hi Leogaela, I picked up a leaflet when I went shopping on Saturday (dh stayed at home with the kids and watched the football). Free parking too, but it will probably be chaos.

I'd forgotten about 'proper weekends' on the continent. When we lived in Holland, shops closed Satruday lunchtime and re-opene Monday lunchtime.
I managed a whole 3.5 months before I moved back to London and left DH to it. Lots of other better reasons than no shops though.

Hausfrau - you don't even have a garden centre open? Poor you - our local one is open till 12 noon on a Sunday (which isn't particulalry useful now I come to think about it). But the most important thing is that our local ice cream parlour is open Sunday afternoons; if it wasn't I would move back to the UK.

Cod. You've saved my life. Thank you!

CG, yes, we also have an exemption for railway stations. The Hbf in Dusseldorf is huge and it has helped me out on a number of occasions. It's not retail therapy though and I need some.

Hf - Bank holidays!! They've been non-stop since I got here. Unfortunately the demands of the project I'm on means that I've had to work them all.

SueW - When I lived in Holland I eventually ended up in Amsterdam, which was OPEN on Sundays. Ooh, the joys of Waterstones and the late lamented M&S.