Store opening hours in Düsseldorf during Carnival

Yesterday we afternoon tried to go shopping in the Duesseldorf Altstadt (for costumes, of course!) and all the stores were already closed. Nothing about special store closing hours was posted. How is one supposed to know when the stores will closed due to Carnival? Does anyone know if Friday is a "holiday" as well? Will stores be closed through Tuesday?

Today is pretty normal except that (most?) schools are out; tomorrow probably 1/2-day; Monday you'll have no chance.
Don't know about Tuesday - pot luck I expect.
There's no generally applicable rule - varies from Ort to Ort, and woe betide anyone who hasn't
been living there for 6 generations.

None of these are official holidays as far as I'm aware, but most things shut down anyway. It's kind of irritating (in Bavaria they already have the most public holidays in Europe without even including these days), although if I was in the position where I could choose between working and not working then obviously I'd do as the Germans do.

It does vary regionally and also depending on the service - I just tried to book a doctor's appointment and they're not open again until next Wednesday, whereas the shops here only close for half a day, if I remember rightly.

Hi! I'm in Munich, I hope you don't mind me posting here, but I found a really good list of school holidays and official bank holidays in NRW here.

As you can see, Fasching isn't listed, so I presume it's up to the individual shop owners when they're open and when they're closed.

So what are the chances of my shopping trip for Monday evening going ahead? As far as I was aware, the only times the shops would maybe be closed would be Saturday or Tuesday afternoon?

Sorry, can't remember anymore which half-day it is their closed. The "Monday" comment was related to Cologne; it's different around the country. There are probably threads from previous years discussing this if you do a search.

And it was mine, it seems - I'm no longer sure because I get Hessen & NRW confused. The big parade in Cologne is on Monday. I do remember getting a haircut on a Karneval Saturday around noon - disastrous idea because they just wanted me out of the place pronto so they could dash off to their party.

Hi. I see your from düsseldorf, with kids.
I'm looking for somone who needs an english babysitter, I don't know where to look,
Do you need one or know of anyone who does?.
(Sorry for the unrelative post)
thanks.