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Summer Sunday shopping hours extended for six Costa del Sol towns

The La Cañada shopping centre, in Marbella, will be one of those that can open every day.
The La Cañada shopping centre, in Marbella, will be one of those that can open every day. / JOSELE

  • Businesses in half a dozen Malaga municipalities can chose to open on Sundays and public holidays from 1 June in areas that see a large influx of tourists during the summer - but some other towns will have to wait until July

  • JUAN SOTO

Stores in six coastal towns, mainly in the western part of the Costa del Sol, will be allowed to open seven days a week from 1 June to 30 September as they attempt to recover trade lost to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Shops, department stores and retail parks in Marbella, Fuengirola, Estepona, Benalmádena, Torremolinos and Nerja may open every day of the week, between those dates, including Sundays and public holidays.

All of them are in areas of great tourist influx (known as ZGAT in Spanish - zonas de gran afluencia turística) and they may open, without restrictions, up to a month earlier than in previous years.

The new order, approved by the Junta de Andalucía, will allow the opening of all businesses in the towns regardless of their size. It will favour the large malls, including the Miramar shopping centre in Fuengirola, and La Cañada and El Corte Inglés in Marbella.

Shops will benefit thanks to the regulation change made by the Junta de Andalucía which determines that summer, for commercial purposes, begins on 1 June instead of 1 July. In addition, the new ZGAT plan also includes Easter Sunday, which was not included in the previous legislation.

The Junta says it hopes this "will have a positive economic impact in terms of direct and indirect jobs generated and by contributing to the improvement of the local economy."

The municipalities that have been able to take advantage of this change are those that had to renew their current permissions this year. So Manilva, Mijas and Rincón de la Victoria will have to wait until 1 July for their summer Sunday shopping to start.

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