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Trade report
Sunday's gap is a daytime one: 51,978 fewer shops open at 09:00 than on Thursday, 2,671 fewer at 22:00 (HiGo listings, Malaysia, September 2026)
Saturday's gap is shallower and later: only 24,001 fewer shops open at 09:00, 81.2% of Thursday against Sunday's 59.3%, with the low point in the afternoon and the two days close again by night.
Out on a Sunday and finding the shutters down? The shortfall is a daytime one. Of the 326,479 merchants with opening hours on record, 51,978 fewer are open at 09:00 on a Sunday than on a Thursday — and only 2,671 fewer at 22:00.
As of 26 September 2026, HiGo listed 482,074 merchants across Malaysia. Of those, 326,479 have opening hours on record, or 67.72%, and every hourly count below covers only those 326,479.
Sunday's gap is almost all daytime: 51,978 fewer at 09:00, only 2,671 fewer at 22:00
The comparison here is Thursday, the day with the most shops open. Going by the hours merchants have on record, 127,829 are open at 09:00 on a Thursday against 75,851 on a Sunday: 51,978 fewer, with Sunday at 59.3% of Thursday. At 22:00 the same comparison is 45,448 on Thursday against 42,777 on Sunday: 2,671 fewer, with Sunday at 94.1% of Thursday. Set the two gaps side by side and the morning one is 19 times the evening one.
After dark the two days close in on each other. At 20:00 Sunday is at 91.8% of Thursday, at 21:00 it is 93.4%, at 22:00 94.1% and at 23:00 94.5% — four hours running at nine tenths of Thursday or better.
The gap opens up between 07:00 and 09:00
Before dawn the two days are almost the same. At 06:00 Thursday has 30,702 shops open and Sunday 29,161, a difference of 1,541, with Sunday at 95.0% of Thursday. The gap is 4,302 at 07:00. By 08:00 it is 25,077 — 5.8 times wider. By 09:00 it is 51,978, wider again by 2.1 times.
The widest gap of the day is not at 09:00 but at 15:00: 173,775 on Thursday against 111,869 on Sunday, 61,906 fewer. From 10:00 to 16:00, though, Sunday holds steady between roughly 64.3% and 66.0% of Thursday. In proportional terms, the daytime distance opens in those two morning hours and does not widen after that.
Saturday opens more, but the gap is still a daytime one: 36,050 fewer at 15:00, 188 fewer at 23:00
Saturday has a different shape. At 09:00, 103,828 shops are open — 24,001 fewer than on Thursday, or 81.2% of the Thursday figure. By 15:00 Saturday is at 137,725 — 36,050 fewer than Thursday, or 79.3% of it, and Saturday's widest gap of the day.
Later on the two days almost meet: 258 apart at 22:00, with Saturday at 99.4% of Thursday, and 188 apart at 23:00, at 99.5%. Both Saturday and Sunday peak at 12:00: 146,568 shops open on Saturday, 114,923 on Sunday.
Friday's gap is concentrated at midday: 12,265 fewer at 12:00, 12,337 fewer at 13:00
Friday runs a little below Thursday through the day, and its two widest gaps sit at midday. At 12:00 Friday has 161,897 shops open, 12,265 fewer than Thursday, or 93.0% of it. At 13:00 it has 161,232, which is 12,337 fewer, or 92.9%.
From Monday to Thursday, the hour with the most shops open is 14:00 every time: 169,720 on Monday, 173,176 on Tuesday, 174,028 on Wednesday and 174,662 on Thursday. Friday's highest hour is 15:00 with 164,671 — only 949 more than its 163,722 at 14:00.
The busiest hour of the week is Thursday 14:00 with 174,662 shops, the quietest Sunday 04:00 with 24,807
The 174,662 shops open at 14:00 on a Thursday are 7 times the 24,807 open at 04:00 on a Sunday. Every day of the week bottoms out at 04:00, and all seven of those figures fall between 24,800 and 26,200, with Sunday's 24,807 the lowest.
What to do with this
- For a Sunday errand, the evening is the safer bet: across the four hours from 20:00, Sunday stays at nine tenths of Thursday or better, and at 22:00 only 2,671 shops separate them.
- If you can, run Sunday morning errands later: 75,851 shops are open at 09:00 on a Sunday, 113,049 at 11:00 and 114,923 at 12:00.
- Saturday afternoon still works: 137,725 shops are open at 15:00, 36,050 fewer than on Thursday.
- These are the opening hours merchants have on record, not a count made on the ground, and they are no guarantee a shop will be open when you get there. Check the hours on the merchant's HiGo page before you set off.
- These figures have no breakdown by region or by industry, so they can't say which state has the most shops open on a Sunday or which trade closes. For where HiGo's Malaysian listings sit by state and federal territory, see the Malaysia page.
Places nearby
Three listings in George Town's heritage core, no more than 900m apart, rated 4.5 or better with at least 250 reviews and real photos. Ratings and review counts were last checked on 4 September 2026. One of the three is an outdoor mural, listed as open 24 hours. All three have Sunday hours on record that cover 09:00.
Kwason Boulangerie
Spitfire Penang Restaurant
Penang Street Art - Boy on Motorbike by Ernest Zacharevic
Ratings and review counts come from Google's public data, as recorded by HiGo on 4 September 2026. They are not a HiGo ranking or recommendation.
Data: HiGo merchant listings, checked 26 September 2026. The full count on record is 482,074 merchants, of which 326,479 have opening hours: 67.72%, and every hourly figure here covers only those 326,479. Our listings don't cover every business in Malaysia. These are the hours merchants have on record with HiGo, not a count made on the ground, and they are no guarantee a shop will be open when you get there. Counts are taken on the hour, Malaysian time (MYT). A further 23,658 merchants are listed as open 24 hours; that figure is separate from the hourly counts. These figures are a snapshot taken at one point in time and kept by version, not a live feed. Ratings and review counts are public Google data, not HiGo scores.
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