Alex Trelinski
SPAIN marks its National Day or Dia de la Hispanidad with a public holiday every October 12 and that means many supermarkets and large stores will be closed across the country.
Whether large shops will be open will to depend on whether they are located in tourist areas- something that is happening on Monday, with the Valencian Community observing Valencia Day.
Restrictions do not apply to small stores that can normally open in non-tourist locations on a Sunday.
In keeping with the usual practice on bank holidays, the Mercadona supermarket chain will be closed everywhere on Thursday.
Carrefour in major shopping centres will be opening but for example will be closed on Mallorca.
Eroski and Hiper Centro will trade, depending on which municipality and region they are in- some with reduced hours.
Some Aldi and Lidl stores will open, depending on whether they are in tourist areas and large shopping centres, subject to different policies in different regions.
Big shopping centres in the Valencian Community will be open on October 12 including Zenia Boulevard on the Orihuela Costa.
The same applies to major centres in Madrid.
Within centres that can open, it will be down to individual retailers to decide whether or not they will trade that day.
If you have a favourite store that you want to use, then you should check beforehand to see if they will be welcoming customers this Thursday.
Unsurprisingly expect a busier than normal rush to local supermarkets this Wednesday for people stock up for a long weekend, even though normal opening hours will return on Friday.
