When Marcus Diekmann recently looked at the sales of his stores, he was startled. On Friday, the spring season and before the weekend actually the most profitable weekday, the bike shop of Rose Bikes in Bocholt with its 4000 square meters managed only 20 percent of the normal flow of visitors. Because of the federal emergency brake, customers have to test themselves before shopping in the store. This seems to scare people away. “This hurdle is too high,” says the head of the bicycle dealer. The test obligation is highly problematic, a disaster.
It sounds similar to other retailers. A complete closure of the shops is more economical, complains s. Oliver boss Claus-Dietrich Lahrs. And Timm Homann, head of the fashion chain Ernsting’s Family, sees in opening concepts with tests or appointment booking “a ruinous, arbitrary and completely one-sided burden on the trade, which is already being harassed by forced closure.«
The modified infection protection Act should actually have exactly the opposite effect. It should end solitary actions of the federal states in pandemic control and provide for clearer rules. In addition, the federal emergency brake allows the opening of shops in the event of falling incidence. But as good as a nationwide uniform strategy might sound for companies, it is driving retailers into a frenzy more than ever. Many say that their predicament has been exacerbated by the new coronary rules. There is an increasing confusion of specifications for their branches.
Although retailers should be allowed to open for incidences between 100 and 150, only for customers with a negative infection test. But apparently many would rather use it for other situations than for shopping, for family visits or the hairdresser, for example.
According to a survey of member companies conducted by the trade association HDE, shops open with compulsory testing lose on average 70 percent of the customer frequency currently before the corona pandemic and almost 60 percent of sales. If the stores are completely closed, the declines are only about ten percent higher in each case.
Because of the fluctuating incidence of corona, retailers have to close their stores and then reopen them. On, on, on, on: Many customers are completely unclear what exactly applies on site, complain entrepreneurs. Also the scare off. The rules on whether stores could open are also changed at such short notice that it is hardly possible to react meaningfully to them, says Rose Bikes boss Diekmann.
The question of how many customers may be in the store also causes some confusion. With up to 800 square meters of retail space, one customer per 20 square meters may actually be admitted for shopping. For larger stores, only one customer per 40 square meters. However, some federal states have established other, stricter rules for traders.
“From our point of view, the current regulations are not an opening perspective,” says s.Oliver CEO Lahrs. “We need reliability”. Especially in the textile trade, the new goods have to be pre-planned for a long time, the fashion is now developed and paid for at the turn of the year. “We cannot simply stop this machine – as the past very short-term measures taken by politicians always suggest,” says Lahrs.
In order not to scare away customers completely and keep employees, many retailers open their stores even when tests are required and only a few shoppers come. Usually the companies pay on it. For the employees brought back from short-time work then the state aid is missing, but the personnel costs are fully booked again, as well as the rental costs. Many retailers have now closed deals with their landlords, according to which they waive a large part of the rental costs for closed stores. If the dealers open again, the entire rental payment is due.
“Cardboard sword instead of Bazooka«
From the point of view of retailers, there is still a lack of financial compensation for this. Every day lockdown gives s. Oliver a million euros operating loss, the company says. According to the HDE survey, a sales backlog of 40 billion euros had accumulated in trade since the beginning of the year-compared to the pre – corona period. At the same time, 60 percent of trading companies were still waiting for some of their state aid.
“Without sales from thousands of foreclosed stores, retailers lack the financial means to invest,” warns s.Oliver manager Lahrs. The result will be “the completely unnecessary closure of shops that were still healthy last year, combined with regrettable high job losses”.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz’s aid, which he had promised at the beginning of the pandemic, “resembles a cardboard sword” rather than the promised bazooka, criticises Lahrs. The payment of 100 billion euros of Corona economic aid since March 2020, just announced by Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier, also does not appease the companies. Half are expensive loans to be repaid by the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the rest are not enough, say several dealers.
Now several dealers want to defend themselves against the requirements of the Infection Protection Act – and in the next weeks submit a constitutional complaint. They are treated unequally, especially in comparison to the requirements for protection against corona, for example in open-plan offices, in state institutions or in industry.
Several retailers, including Intersport, Tom Tailor, Ernsting’s Family, Bonita and Rose Bikes, complain that the restrictions in the retail sector are “disproportionately strong.” The determination of which companies are systemically relevant is also non-transparent. Retailers criticize the fact that the department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof received extra state aid. “The political decision-makers have lost all compass,” says Ernsting’s boss Homann.
Restaurateurs want to support the push of the trade. The host circle, an association of 200 catering companies from Tim Mälzer’s restaurants to Block House, Käfer, Hans im Glück to L’Osteria, also feels unfairly treated. “Company canteens are allowed to open, in some hotels guests are served at dinner, behind the security at the airport you can dine, but we have to keep the interiors closed despite very good hygiene concepts”, criticizes Mirko Silz, head of L’Osteria. As with retail, large restaurant chains would not be fully compensated, as the EU aid law limits aid funds. “We lose almost four million euros a month, which is only partially offset,” Silz complains.
He also worries that many employees are now lost. The short-time work allowance was not enough for them to live on, they reoriented themselves. L’Osteria was already missing around 500 employees. Retailers also complain of a lack of trainees because they cannot offer prospects.
