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Yesterday, Monday, trade opens again. This applies to all provinces except Upper Austria, which follows on December 17 – and especially only for vaccinated or recovered people with 2-G proof and FFP2 masks. According to trade representatives, however, checks are not carried out at every entrance.
The trade association expects a restrained start, although the customer frequency will be higher, since hundredthousand trade employees as well as employees in bodynear services return from the short-time work. In many places, the home office is also coming to an end. Towards the evening, the association expects increased Christmas shopping.
Due to the continuation of the lockdown for the unvaccinated and the hard lockdown in Upper Austria, the trade association expects nationwide sales losses of 440 million euros in the entire non-food trade compared to pre-Corona normal weeks. As double salaries were transferred during the hard lockdown, a lot had flowed away to Internet giants outside Austria. Stationary retail would therefore “probably only make up a quarter of the 2.7 billion euros in lost sales.”
For this reason, Corona economic aid would have to be increased, the trade lobbying association once again demanded. “After the epidemic law was overturned last year, full compensation was promised. However, there are many cases where the default bonus and loss compensation do not apply,” trade association spokesman Rainer Will said Monday.
“2-G checks at the entrance make no sense”.
However, a theoretical rule for shopping that is now possible again is hardly feasible in practice, writes the “Kurier” with reference to industry information. “For shopping centers, 2-G checks at the entrance make no sense,” says Christoph Andexlinger, head of Spar European Shoppingcenter (SES), according to the newspaper report. After all, he said, shopping centers also have pharmacies, grocery stores or post offices that may be visited by the unvaccinated. “After all, we can’t check at the entrance who wants to go where,” says the shopping center manager, whose group owns 17 properties in Austria.
Nor can the controls be delegated to the store operators. On the one hand, there is a lack of personnel, and hiring security is also out of the question, “the industry is in high season, you won’t get anyone there. In addition, a salesperson is not the executive, so he cannot do much more than explain to someone that he is not allowed in the store. But, “99 percent of people follow the rules. But in a store with 40,000 customers a day, you always have one or two you’d rather not have there,” says Andexlinger. Ultimately, he says, visible executive control is probably the most effective tool.
“The trade association has equipped all tens of thousands of retailers with information signs, but also announcements can be made or just random checks are just the tools to enable just a safe trade,” Will explained on ORF radio Ö1 “Morgenjournal” on Monday. “The customers, but also the employees are of course challenged, because only all of us can guarantee safe shopping.”
Penalties up to 3600 euros
If someone is caught shopping without 2-G proof by the police, it can be expensive. According to Will, customer and store operator are in the draw. Fine for the customer would be 500 euros, for the owner 3600 euros.
source: diepresse.at/picture: hp
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