Starting on Monday 2 January, Luxembourg’s sales will kick off a day before those in neighbouring Belgium and France, and are set to continue until 28 January. Shops will also be exceptionally open on three Sundays during the sales period - 8, 15, and 22 January.
If something you are on the hunt for wasn’t yet discounted on Black Friday or in the lead-up to Christmas, it may be worth heading back out there in the coming weeks to see if you might be in luck.
Alongside the annual sales, this year will also see VAT rates lowered from their usual 17% to 16%, which applies to clothing and footwear for adults. Children’s clothing already benefit from a lower rate of 3%, and won’t be affected by the temporary VAT reduction. Other products that already benefit from the lower 3% VAT rate include food, medication, books, and newspapers.
This should - in theory at least - knock an additional 1% of prices. However, as Tom Bauert, director of CLC, noted in an interview with our RTL Radio colleagues, there is no guarantee that a lowering of VAT will necessarily lead to an equivalent reduction in the prices faced by consumers. The aim of the temporarily lowered VAT rate is rather to counteract inflation and slow the increase in prices.
