I’m in Spain right now and everything seems to stay open way later than things back home. Maybe if you live in NYC, LA, or Chicago things are open later but certainly not in my mid-sized city.
In more northern countries, it is fairly typical that most businesses like shops and cafes will close around 16:00-17:00, with only restaurants and some evening specific businesses (cinemas and theaters who have evening showings for example) staying open later.
In the warmer end of Europe it seems a lot more common for shops to be open into the evening, as the idea of siesta hours are more common (where shops will open in the mornings, close for the hottest hours in the early afternoon, then reopen and stay open later).
My understanding was that Americ atypically stuck to the more northern timekeeping and closing early evening.
In Sweden, most shops are open to 18:00 or 19:00. Grocery stores are usually open to 22:00-23:00. Cafés will differ wildly depending on location and customer profile.
Basically the same in Norway. Most shops are open to 20:00. Shopping centres usually until 21:00, and most grocery stores are open until 22:00 or 23:00. Shops and shopping centers close earlier on Saturdays though, most at 18:00. Most shops, including grocery stores, are closed on Sundays.
Same in Denmark. Almost everything is open on Sundays but they will close a little bit earlier, except supermarkeds. If a town is big enough for a cinema, nothing will close at 16:00 except for bakeries and breakfast spots. Even my local library are open until 20:00 every day of the week. And I don’t live in a touristy area.
If you are sticking mainly to the larger capital cities you may find them catering more to tourists and running later into the evenings - certainly the busier areas of London will be open later than is normal for the rest of the country, especially so places like the trendier centres which also have a lot of food and are more 'evening' focussed.
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Well yeah, the three largest cities that all have populations bigger than many states are gonna be different than whatever mid sized city you live in. But id argue the big cities are more representative of a typical american. Most people live in urban lr suburban areas
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u/Thatoneguyhere34 9h ago
How early everything closes compared to U.S