Cyprus Shopping
Shop Opening Hours and Sales Dates
The Official Cyprus Winter Sales will begin on 13th January 2012, and end on 3rd March 2012.
Shop Opening Hours
This is a general guide, not the definitive shop opening times, and as such you may find some shops opening or closing earlier or later.
There are 24 hour shops in many areas for groceries etc, as well as bakeries that open 24/7. The majority of shops will close all day on Sundays, with the exception of shops in tourist areas, which are allowed to open during specific Sunday hours, the same applies to public bank holidays. During the weeks running up to Christmas, some shops are usually allowed to open later on certain evenings.
Banks open to the public from 07:30 am to 1:30 pm Monday to Friday, and then again in the afternoons from around 3pm to 5pm for tourist services only.
Post offices open from 07:30 am to 13:30 pm Monday to Friday, with many sub post offices opening on Wednesday or Thursday afternoon from around 3pm to 5pm.
The winter period is from 1st November to 31st March and many shops are allowed to open during the following times:
• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 05:00 am to 19.30 pm
• Wednesday: 05:00 am to 15:00 pm (The official half day)
• Saturday: 05:00 am to 19:00 pm
The summer period is from 1st April to 31st October and most shops will be allowed to open during the following times:
• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 05:00 am to 20:00 pm
• Wednesday: 05:00 am to 15:00 pm
• Saturday: 05:00 am to 19:30 pm
Pharmacies have a late duty roster where each city will generally have three nominated pharmacies open for emergency prescriptions etc. The duty pharmacies will stay open late each night until 10pm in the winter months, and 11pm in the summer months, and all day sunday. Details of the duty pharmacies can be found in the local Greek or English papers, or you can telephone any of the following information lines that have recorded details of the duty pharmacies for that day. Calls to these numbers cost around 16 cents per minute.
24-hour Pharmacies Information Lines
Ammochostos 90901413
Larnaca 90901414
Limassol 90901415
Nicosia 90901412
Paphos 90901416
The official sales
Sales take place twice a year in winter and summer. Traditionally the dates for sales are announced by the Commerce Minister, but are usually;
The winter sales season starts on the first Monday of February until the fourth Saturday in February, and the summer sales season starts on the first Monday of August until the fourth Saturday in August.
The products which are usually included in the sales list are clothing, shoes, furniture and electrical equipment.
The majority of shops will be closed on official public bank holidays. See the official dates declared as Cyprus public bank holidays for the year 2012.