Cantonal Council LU Lucerne cantonal council in favor of longer opening hours for farm shops

Farm stores in the canton of Lucerne are to be subject to less stringent rules on opening hours than normal stores. However, the opening hours are not to be completely liberalized. This was decided by the cantonal council on Monday.

The cantonal council declared a motion by Ursula Berset (GLP) to be partially substantial by 77 votes to 28. A less far-reaching postulate by Rolf Bossart (SVP) was passed by 84 votes to 23. Today, unstaffed shops, like staffed stores, have to close at 7 p.m. from Monday to Friday and at 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

In her proposal, Berset therefore demanded that stores without sales staff should no longer be subject to the regulated opening hours. She justified this with the shopping behavior of the population. "Shopping in the evening and on Sundays is a need," she said. One solution could be to offer products in small, unmanned stores.

Bossart accused Berset of working towards total liberalization bit by bit. Farm stores should not become a sales hub, he said. "We don't want M farm stores."

The SVP, Center Party, SP and some of the Greens supported the path laid out by Bossart and the government, which envisages more generous closing times as well as a restriction on the sales area. The GLP, FDP and some of the Greens were on Berset's side.