The Beijing municipal authority issued an order on Wednesday regulating 82 major department stores in the city to open at ten o'clock from July 20 to September 20 in order to ease morning traffic during the Olympic Games.

The closing time may be postponed accordingly based on the stores' own decisions, the document said.

However, the supermarkets are not included in this program as many local citizens shop in the morning for groceries.

Most shoppers choose to walk to the supermarkets near their communities so will not add to the traffic pressure, a municipal official told the Beijing Morning Post.

The 82 department stores, whose total area exceeds ten thousand square meters, are all located in transport hubs. Normally most of them open at 9:00 or 9:30 am.

(CRI July 18,2008)