In my experience, many stores in Aix are closed more often than in the US. Looking at the places I’ve been in America, many stores are open for the convenience of customers. People can expect businesses to be open from at least 9am-5pm. Even during lunchtime, usually, there will still be employees working. Concerning the work week, most businesses are open 7 days a week. Some stores or restaurants don’t even shut down for holidays. Some could say this is just an example of American capitalism in which companies are trying to make as much money as possible by staying open longer. However, businesses seem to operate differently in France. Restaurants or even shops can be closed from 2pm until 6pm because the employees need to take lunch or prepare for dinner service. If you want to/need to eat lunch after 2pm, it could be a little harder to find an open restaurant. Moreover, many stores are closed on Sundays as well. Even though this happens in America as well, it can still be difficult to navigate as many people are busy during the week and need to run errands on the weekend. Sometimes, there are also day excursions on Sundays but many stores will be closed when we visit a city.
While I find this inconveniencing, I can also see the positives to running a business in this way. It allows the employees to have a break and to relax during the day or week. Once the employees come back to work, they will probably be more refreshed and, thus more productive. Furthermore, it could encourage consumers to stay home and spend time with their families if many stores are closed on Sundays. It could also be a good excuse to enjoy nature and go on a hike or go sightseeing. From a personal standpoint, I would also prefer to have long lunch breaks when I’m at work. I think it would give me more time to actually enjoy my lunch and maybe have healthier/fresher lunches as well. I also think it’s nice that companies consider their employees to be people with lives outside of their job that requires them to spend time away from work. Some American businesses fail to see their employees as people and refuse to give them more time off or longer breaks. I think it’d be interesting to see what big American companies think of normalizing a 6 day work week or a four-hour lunch break.
