Sunday shopping ban back in full force next week
Ljubljana, 18 August - This Sunday will be the last when stores selling groceries, technical goods and baby products will be open under a government decree issued following devastating floods two weeks ago.
Normally stores are closed on Sundays, but this exemption was made to give people in flood-hit areas better access to necessities.
The floods hit Slovenia on a Friday, when stores were already struggling to keep up with demand for items such as bottled water.
The Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sports announced today that the decree which allowed stores to remain open would no longer be in effect on Monday.
The decision was announced just as the Retail Workers' Trade Union was holding a press conference at which it called for restrictions to Sunday opening times.
The union demanded that only stores located in flood-hit areas remain open on Sunday. Under the government decree, stores could operate on Sundays all over the country.
The union also wanted restrictions to Sunday working hours, which have been left to the discretion of individual retailers.
Unionist Ladi Rožič accused retail chains that opted to open their stores outside the flood-hit areas the past two Sundays of exploiting a natural disaster for profit.