Sunday shopping in Ostend

In much of Belgium, Sunday is a quiet day for the shops. On the coast it is the opposite. Ostend (Oostende) is a seaside town, and seaside towns are not held to the usual weekly closing day, so Sunday here is a normal — often busy — shopping day. If you are down for the weekend, you do not have to cram everything into Saturday.

That said, “open on Sundays” does not mean every shop, all day. Each shop sets its own hours, the big chains open earlier than the small boutiques, and some independents take their day off on a Sunday or a Monday instead. This guide covers what you can count on, with the Sunday hours we have checked; they still shift with the seasons, so look at each shop’s own page before you set out.

What’s open on a Sunday

The shopping streets

The core streets — the Kapellestraat, the Wapenplein and the Adolf Buylstraat — are busy on a Sunday, and most of their shops are open. The boutiques tend to start later than the chains: expect the independent fashion shops to open around midday or 1pm and run to about 6pm. Ida on the Vlaanderenstraat, Cascade on the Koningstraat and Ferm Homme on the Sint-Paulusstraat all open on Sunday afternoons, LILY on the Hertstraat from around noon, and the concept store Brut keeps the longest hours of the lot, until 7pm. For the full lay of the land, see our walk down Ostend’s shopping streets.

Chocolate and sweets: the early openers

If you want to shop early on a Sunday, the chocolate and sweet shops are your best bet — most open by mid-morning. Moeder Babelutte opens from 9:30, Leonidas and Neuhaus from 10:00, and Candy Shop on the Vlaanderenstraat from 10:00 too. Ostend’s own chocolatier, Olivier Willems on the Groentemarkt, opens a little later, from 11:00. It makes a Sunday morning stroll-and-shop very easy.

The Sunday markets

Sunday morning is also market time. The Wapenplein hosts a flower market from about 7am to 1pm — a pleasant thing to walk through before the shops fill up. Down on the harbour, the Vistrap fish market is open on Sundays as on any other day, best early in the morning. Both are covered in our guide to Ostend’s markets.

Groceries and practical bits

If you are self-catering, the Delhaize on the Hazegras side, near the station, opens on Sunday mornings (around 8am to 1pm) — handy for breakfast supplies before the rest of the city wakes up. For regional food, Deschildre at the Vismijn is open on Sundays too, and for beach or outdoor gear A.S.Adventure opens from late morning.

Good to know

• Not everyone opens. A few shops take Sunday as their closing day — the cheese shop Bretoentje and the tea shop Tealicious among them — and some independents swap Sunday for a Monday off instead.
• Hours vary by season. Expect more shops open, and for longer, in summer and during the school holidays; out of season, Sunday hours are shorter.
• Mornings are quieter. The flower market and an early coffee on the Wapenplein beat the afternoon crush, especially in high season.
• Always check the listing. Every shop on the guide shows the Sunday hours we have checked — the safest way to avoid a closed door.