After midsummer in Sweden, it is like pushing a button. Restaurants & some boutiques close until mid-August. If you need to get something done, workwise, best get it done before the end of June. Big corporations are deserted, entire finance departments may go on holiday at the same time and if you are in need of assistance you may find yourself waiting until August.
Every year I scratch my head at this phenomenon. As a smaller corporation, we certainly cannot afford to leave our customers hanging for weeks. Just because it is July does not mean that people stop coming to Sweden in need of housing. Yet, somehow it happens year after year. The "industrial" country wide vacation is holy, much similar to the French's vacation time in August. Perhaps, though it is not so crazy. Our economy is fairly healthy comparatively to other economies in the world that are struggling.
If this frustrates you as a newcomer to Sweden, you will be amused that next summer you may take your 5-week vacation equally seriously. Anyway, Residensportalen has staggered our vacations. Someone will be available between Monday to Friday all of July and August to assist you. I will visit a counterpart in Beijing to look at the housing situation there and get updates on what the Chinese are looking for whilst abroad. Blog entry on this to come. We hope you all are having a wonderful summer!
