The reaction of the representatives of the retail sector was provoked by the announcement of the new measures especially for those who have not been vaccinated by the Minister of Health Thanos Plevris.
According to the announcements of the Minister, our unvaccinated fellow citizens are obliged to have performed Rapid or molecular test before entering retail stores, with the exception of the shops where food is sold but the pharmacies.
The new interventions create a huge problem of survival in the retail trade, he stressed while speaking in SKAI 100.3, the President of GSEVEE George Kavvathas, who at the same time immediate support measures for the industry.
In addition, the president of ESEE George Karanikas speaks about the entry of the sector in “uncharted waters” in a statement about the announcements of the government.
Specifically, Mr. Karanikas said:
“For more than a year and a half, the commercial world has been doing everything humanly possible to help tackle the pandemic. He endured for a long time the painful lockdowns with zero turnover, expecting a return to ‘normality’, which is constantly postponed. Of course, the protection of human life and the safety of consumers remains today the first priority of small and medium-sized commercial enterprises.
It is obvious, however, that the new restrictive measures in the attendance of the buying public, will cause new losses in the income of all, except for the commercial small and medium enterprises.
The obligation to show a rapid test to enter the store is a deterrent, which will definitely reduce buying traffic and even at a time when inflationary pressures and energy costs are already affecting, all households and businesses.
The owners of the stores and the employees in them, become transformers of certificates and rapid tests, a task in which, even if they manage to cope, it is certain that it will alter the shopping experience for the citizens, reducing their visits to Buy.
On the other hand, the uncontrolled and unrestricted attendance of all, vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens, in supermarkets and public markets, directly raises the issue of unfair competition to the detriment of commercial enterprises. At the same time, it raises reasonable questions about the effectiveness of the pandemic that the government-selected mix of measures will have.
With these data, the retail trade enters again in ‘uncharted waters’, and in fact in view of the festive period, which it was waiting for with expectations of recovery of the turnover and the psychology “.
“The weight on the backs of retail is asymmetric from the new measures”, as the president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce Stavros Kafounis noted in a statement, after the announcement of the new measures.
In addition, Mr. Kafounis stated: “Retail trade since the beginning of the pandemic has taken with great seriousness both the financial and the health challenges, respecting all the health protocols.
After all, we have all agreed that covid-19 has never been a source of transmission and no one in the past has questioned the safe environment inside the stores.
“Therefore, the requirement for consumers to be controlled by store employees is impossible and unfortunately this measure will worsen the economic environment, at a time when market optimism is gradually returning.”
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