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.
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.
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u/mycatsnameisnoodle 11h ago
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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.