Monday, December 27, 2021
Partly “dramatically bad”
Trade association complains about Christmas business
For the stationary retail trade, the Christmas business went anything but good. Sometimes it was even “dramatically bad”, says HDE managing director Genth. While online and grocery stores would have fewer problems, the cause is clear to Genth: the 2G rule.
The German Retail Association (HDE) complains about significant sales losses for the retail sector in this year’s Christmas business. For large parts of the German trade, the Christmas business went “dramatically bad”, said HDE managing director Stefan Genth the “Focus”. “By November we were able to catch up a lot from the lockdown months in the spring,” said Genth. “But the positive trend was stopped abruptly by the introduction of the 2G rules.” On average, there was a third less sales with 40 percent fewer customers, Genth reported.
“And some retailers, especially from the textile sector, have of course been hit even harder when you consider that online trading is booming again with a further increase of 20 percent and the food sector is also continuing to function well,” he said: “Just now the city centers were hit particularly hard again. ”
Genth criticized that the 2G rule for large parts of the retail trade was “not a medically sensible measure, but was mainly used by politicians to put pressure on the unvaccinated”. “It has long been clear that the shops do not contribute in any way to the infection process,” he told “Focus” and referred to the court ruling in Lower Saxony on the suspension of the 2G rule in retail.
“A normal mask requirement is enough again,” said Genth. Everything else is “also incomprehensible and represents a clear unequal treatment, against which many of our members are taking legal action.” There is also “so far no plan for compensation payments,” he criticized.
The Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Lüneburg temporarily suspended the 2G rule for retail in Lower Saxony in mid-December. The court argued that the rule is not currently a necessary safeguard. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach pointed out after the court ruling that 2G is useful in retail and also “much more effective than a mask requirement”. Other courts also assessed the situation differently. Judges in North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, Berlin and Hamburg rejected corresponding urgent applications against the 2G rule in retail. The applications refer to the respective state regulations.