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Retailers and people working in the sector expressed their relief at the news that the Government had rejected the recommendation of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) to move the country to level 5.
Retail Excellence said the decision would ensure that nearly 300,000 people would keep their jobs in the run-up to Christmas.
However, the umbrella group said that the expected move to Level 3 with additional restrictions across the state would have a profound impact on cafes and restaurants, as well as affect consumer confidence and the influx of the public, making it even more difficult. the road to Christmas for struggling retailers. “
Retail Excellence Managing Director Duncan Graham said it was “important that the health of our economy be considered.”
He noted that “moving to Level 5 restrictions with just 11 weeks to go Christmas would have been devastating for the industry. This is the most important period of the year for retailers in terms of turnover and profits.
As it stands, many retailers are trading 40-70% below last year’s turnover and other restrictions would be “the last nail in the coffin for many,” he said.
Graham added that more than 90 high-profile stores in Ireland had already closed this year, including chains such as Debenhams, Mothercare, Oasis and Inglot, and he believed the situation was likely to get worse early next year.
“More restrictions would drive a huge acceleration in online shopping, of which more than 70 percent goes to retailers outside of Ireland. Retailers need government support with legacy debts dating back to March and April, ”he said, noting that 67 percent of recently surveyed retailers said they were in default.
Earlier, Mr. Graham said that accepting NPHET’s recommendation to move to Level 5 restrictions would be “a devastating blow” to retailers.
He said that retail should be seen as an “essential” sector in the run-up to Christmas and also warned that forced closures would lead to “a bottleneck that will lead to a shopping frenzy in December that could lead to further problems.” .
The queues would only get worse, he argued, if several weeks of retail were lost in the run-up to Christmas.
“What we could see is more panic buying rather than the gentle Christmas prep we were hoping for,” he told The Irish Times.
Mr. Graham said that retailers had “been compliant across the board since the beginning of this crisis and there is no evidence of clusters of Covid-19 originating from stores.”
“People are going to want to buy gifts and since they won’t spend on Christmas parties, we anticipate a lot of gift shopping so that people can at least leave something under the trees of their loved ones if they can’t visit. or celebrate with them in the traditional way, ”he said.
However, he said consumers’ plans could be thrown into disarray with new mandatory closings.
“I would like to see all retailers classified as essential or with a more nuanced level of restrictions that would at least make stores stay open even if movements have to be restricted and people cannot visit each other in their homes,” he said.
‘Lost Christmas’
He expressed his fear that any blockage could easily be extended. When the first closure was announced, we were told it would be for three weeks and it would last 12. Christmas is 11 weeks away and if the same happened, Christmas would be completely lost, he said.
Jean McCabe owns clothing boutiques in Galway and Ennis and said that while she had spent much of the past six months increasing her online presence “to mitigate the reduction in footfall at Christmas,” another forced closure would be “catastrophic for women. stores that do not have an online channel ”.
He said he expected “a steady stream of shoppers through the doors during October, November and December rather than that sharp increase in the last three weeks before Christmas, but if the retail sector is closed, that can’t happen.”
He said that if the government accepted NPHET’s recommendation to move to Level 5 for four weeks, stores would have a difficult time managing capacity over Christmas. “There have been no cases related to retail, and in the interests of saving that part of the economy, I think it is a calculated risk to keep the stores open.”
Retail Ireland, the Ibec group representing the retail sector, said that any move to shut down “significant swaths of retailers as part of the new Covid restrictions would have a devastating impact on thousands of businesses and jobs” in the lead up to the key period of Christmas trade. .
He warned that the non-food trade “would move almost exclusively in line with most of the spending leaving the country.”
Group director Arnold Dillon said Sunday night’s news that a widespread retail closure was being reviewed “is a huge shock. The economic and social costs would be enormous, thousands of companies and jobs would be at risk. This should be avoided ”.
He said the Covid-19 threat would have to be managed “through specific restrictions, while maintaining economic activity and jobs. The retail sector has clearly shown that this can be done. A rigorous risk assessment, incorporating economic and social considerations, must be performed before new restrictions are introduced. “
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