Spätkauf

Some shops may also offer internet access,[3] a postal service for retail, and usually feature small benches for clients to sit on while drinking beer.

[5] Most shops are run by migrant families of Turkish, Vietnamese and are a part of the culture of Berlin's local neighbourhoods known as "Kiezes".

[7] The Spätverkauf was established in the German Democratic Republic in the second half of the 20th century for workers coming home from late night shifts.

[11][12] In 1995 the "antipreneurial" one-man artist group Stiletto Studio,s [fr][13] presented LESS function IS MORE fun as a post-neoist special waste sale of interpassive design-defuncts[14] in a so-called Spätverkauf installation by Laura Kikauka, located at a glass pavilion next to the Volksbühne Berlin, which she claimed as one of her projects of Maximalism.

[15][16] Contrary to the usual practice of Spätkaufs, only flowers, print media, baked goods and dairy products may be sold on Sundays between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., according to Berlin's Ladenschlussgessetz ('shop closing law').

[17] In March 2012, a Prenzlauer Berg resident reported 48 stores that violated the shop closing law to the Berlin Ordnungsamt ('Office of Public Order').

One in particular, "Kollwitz 66", later drew attention with a counter-campaign by displaying the name and phone number of the person reporting the violations at the shop and also publishing it on Facebook.

[18] In a radio interview, Berlin City Councilor Torsten Kühne stated that the Ordnungsamt must thoroughly investigate every violation of the shop closing law.

Bündnis 90/Die Grünen demanded an exemption for Spätkaufs for a number of hours on Sundays, but this was not supported by the governing parties SPD and CDU.

[23] While some places don't have small shops with long business hours, they exist with different names especially in the Ruhr area, the Rhineland, Hanover and Hamburg.

[28] In Madrid, there are shops that sell a limited range of food, snacks and toilet paper and are usually open 24 hours per day.