Norway closes up shop earlier than most of Western Europe. Sundays are almost entirely off-limits for retail, and public holidays can shut down shops for days at a stretch. Without proper planning, you'll spend a Saturday evening staring at a locked Vinmonopolet wondering where your weekend wine went.
When Shops Are Open
Most shops in Norway keep shorter hours than you're probably used to. Clothing shops, bookshops, and independent stores in Oslo or Bergen typically open around 10:00 and close between 17:00 and 18:00 on weekdays. Some stay open a bit later on Thursdays. Saturdays are shorter still, with most closing by 15:00 or 16:00.
Shopping malls do a bit better: 10:00 to 20:00 or 21:00 on weekdays, 10:00 to 18:00 on Saturdays. Closed Sundays.
Supermarkets keep much longer hours. In Oslo and Bergen, chains like Kiwi, Rema 1000, Coop Extra, and Meny open early (07:00 or 08:00) and stay open until 22:00 or 23:00 on weekdays. Saturdays they wind down earlier, typically closing between 18:00 and 22:00. In smaller towns, knock a few hours off.
Karl Johans gate - Oslo´s main shopping street
Supermarkets and Grocery Shopping in Norway
Sundays
Sunday retail in Norway is heavily regulated. The default: shops are closed. All regular supermarkets, malls, department stores, and retail chains must shut their doors.
The one exception is grocery stores with a sales floor under 100 square metres, which can open on Sundays. You'll see chains like Joker, Bunnpris, and some Kiwi locations running small Sunday-format stores, sometimes called Brustadbu (named after the politician behind the rule). Some are purpose-built annexes walled off from the main shop with a separate entrance.
The selection is thin, the aisles are cramped, and prices run 10 to 25% higher than at a full-size Rema 1000 or Coop Extra during the week.
Gas station mini-markets (Circle K, Shell, Esso) stay open too.
Restaurants, cafés, bakeries, and museums all stay open on Sundays. Food delivery apps like Foodora and Wolt work on Sundays and most public holidays too. Locals spend Sundays outdoors, at brunch, or wandering through galleries. Nothing about the city shuts down except the shops.
Tourist Zones
Places classified as "typical tourist destinations" get an exception. In these areas, shops of any size can open on Sundays and holidays.
To get this status, a municipality has to apply to the County Governor and show that sales in the area are mainly to tourists rather than locals. The status is often seasonal (May through September is common) and each store still decides individually whether to bother opening.
This mostly applies to small resort and fjord towns: Nordkapp, Geiranger, parts of Hvaler, Gamlebyen in Fredrikstad, Kragerø. Ski resort towns like Hemsedal keep stores open during winter under similar arrangements. None of Norway's major cities have the status. Oslo's city council tried to get Karl Johans gate classified as a tourist zone in 2025 but the application was turned down, ruling that a city centre can't claim its trade is "mainly to tourists." Bergen doesn't have it either.
If you happen to pass through a designated tourist town in peak season, you might find shops open on a Sunday. Don't count on it.
Buying Alcohol
The store might be open until 23:00, but the beer shuts off well before that. Norway runs two separate closing times for alcohol.
Beer and cider in supermarkets
Beer and cider up to 4.75% ABV are sold in ordinary supermarkets, but the tills automatically block alcohol after the legal cutoff:
- Weekdays: 20:00
- Saturdays: 18:00
- Eves of public holidays (the Wednesday before Easter, New Year's Eve, etc.): 18:00, not the usual 20:00
- Sundays and public holidays: nothing at all
This is not flexible. The checkout system locks and the cashier can't do anything about it. You'll see it happen to people who didn't know, or didn't keep track of the time, standing at the register at 20:02 with a basket of dinner ingredients and a four-pack of beer, and the cashier just shakes their head. The beer goes back on the shelf, no exception. The system is built to say no.
Vinmonopolet
Anything above 4.75% ABV (all wine, spirits, and stronger craft beers) is sold exclusively through Vinmonopolet, the state-run liquor stores.
- Weekdays: 10:00 to 18:00
- Saturdays: 10:00 to 16:00
- Sundays and public holidays: closed
- Also closed on: Christmas Eve, 1 May, and 17 May
Some stores have local variations, so check vinmonopolet.no before heading out. You need to be 18 to buy beer and wine, and 20 for spirits (anything above 22% ABV).
If you want wine for the weekend, the deadline is 16:00 Saturday. Miss it and you're stuck with supermarket beer until Monday, and only if you grab that before 18:00.
Buying and drinking alcohol in Norway
Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world for a casual beer. It is also, strangely, one of the cheapest places to buy a bottle of fine Burgundy. A 0.4-litre lager at an Oslo bar costs NOK 90-120. A Premier Cru that would run you £150 in London might cost less at the government-run liquor store down the street.
Public Holidays
Public holidays are marked in red on Norwegian calendars, which is why locals call them "red days." Treat every red day like a Sunday: same closures, same limited exceptions for small stores and gas stations. Public transport runs on reduced schedules.
Christmas Eve (24 December) and New Year's Eve (31 December) are not official public holidays but shops close early, typically by 15:00 to 16:00. The Wednesday before Maundy Thursday and the Saturday before Whit Sunday also see early closures. On all of these half-holiday days, the supermarket beer cutoff drops to 18:00 instead of the usual 20:00.
Visiting Norway During Christmas and Easter
Easter
Easter causes the most disruption. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday are all full public holidays, so shops are closed on four out of five days. Easter Saturday is not a public holiday, but stores close early, typically by 15:00 or 16:00. One short window in a five-day stretch. In 2026, this runs from Thursday 2 April to Monday 6 April.
Vinmonopolet follows the same compressed schedule.
Museums in Oslo and Bergen typically keep holiday hours through Easter. Restaurants might stay open with fewer options, and the popular ones fill up fast. In smaller towns and fjord villages, finding a meal on the actual holiday days is difficult.
Easter is also the biggest domestic travel week in the country. Norwegians head to mountain cabins for the last of the ski season, read crime novels by tradition, and eat oranges and Kvikk Lunsj chocolate in the snow. Oslo and Bergen get noticeably quiet. If you're self-catering, stock up before Wednesday afternoon.
May
May packs four public holidays into a single month. Labour Day, Ascension Day, Constitution Day, Whit Sunday and Whit Monday. Shops are closed on all these days.
Constitution Day (17 May)
In addition to shops being closed, city centres shut to car traffic for the children's parades. In Bergen, the Bybanen light rail skips its last two city-centre stops until around 15:00. Public transport runs on diverted holiday routes everywhere.
Restaurants stay open but book well in advance. If you're in Norway for 17 May, the parades are worth seeing. Just don't count on buying anything except street food and ice cream.
Christmas and New Year
The weeks before Christmas are generous. Shops extend their weekday evening hours, and the last three Sundays before Christmas Eve are open for shopping (typically 14:00 to 20:00). This is the one stretch of the year when Sunday shopping is semi-normal.
Then it stops. Shops close early on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day and Boxing Day are full red days, so everything is closed. Most restaurants close as well, even in Oslo and Bergen. Most attractions shut.
Read more about visiting Norway during Christmas and New Year.
The days between Christmas and New Year, known locally as romjul, are when things slowly reopen. Some shops and restaurants come back with reduced hours, but full normal service doesn't resume until early January. New Year's Eve sees early closures again, and New Year's Day is a full red day.
More about Norway
Tipping in Norway: What´s expected
Where to stay in Oslo: Guide to the best neighbourhoods & hotels
Norway in a Nutshell - Oslo to Bergen: Make it a 2 day journey
