Pandemic’s deserted streets greet St. Stephen’s Day shoppers

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Dublin was “eerily quiet” on Saint Stephen’s Day when Covid-19 restrictions halted the sales rush typically seen the day after Christmas.

As Ireland enters its third lockdown, non-essential retailers have been allowed to stay open on the condition that they postpone or change annual online winter sales.

The Irish Times reports that when the doors to Arnotts opened shortly before 9 am this morning in the capital, staff outnumbered customers by a “significant margin.”

Sale signs on Grafton Street in Dublin city center, where retailers can stay open but have been asked to postpone sales until January. Photo: Brian Lawless / PA Images.
A Garda car on Henry Street in Dublin city center, where retailers were asked to postpone sales until January. Photo: Brian Lawless / PA Images.

About half an hour later, a large television screen had just over 100 buyers spread over four floors.

Grafton Street was reportedly “even quieter,” with Brown Thomas among just a handful of retailers whose doors opened early in the morning.

People on Henry Street in Dublin city center, where retailers can stay open but have been asked to postpone sales until January. Photo: Brian Lawless / PA Images.
People on Grafton Street in Dublin city center, where retailers can stay open but have been asked to postpone sales until January. Photo: Brian Lawless / PA Images.
People outside Bewley’s cafe on Grafton Street in Dublin city center, where retailers can stay open but have been asked to postpone sales until January. Photo: Brian Lawless / PA Images.

Meanwhile, businesses in Northern Ireland were shut down once again as new lockdown measures came into force.

The new restrictions include a form of curfew that operates from 8 p.m., with stores closed thereafter, and all indoor and outdoor gatherings prohibited until 6 a.m.

In Belfast, the streets were deserted, in stark contrast to the typical St Stephen or St Stephen sales rush.

An abandoned Victoria shopping center in Belfast city center when Northern Ireland entered a new extended shutdown on St. Stephen’s Day. Photo: Peter Morrison / PA Images.
Deserted streets in Belfast city center as Northern Ireland entered a new blockade extended on St. Stephen’s Day. Photo: Peter Morrison / PA Images.

Non-essential close-contact and retail services, such as hair salons, have closed and will remain closed for the next six weeks. Hotel establishments are limited to take away food services.

Covid-19 infection rates remain high across the island, with a virulent strain first discovered in southern England and London recently detected in both the Republic and the north.

A total of 26 deaths and 2,294 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed on Saturday on the island of Ireland.

In the Republic, the National Public Health Emergency Team confirmed 1,296 new cases of the virus, along with six more deaths.

In Northern Ireland, an additional 998 new cases were confirmed in the past two days, along with 20 Covid-19-related deaths in the same period.

An entry ban sign in a shop window in Belfast city center as Northern Ireland entered a new extended closure on St. Stephen’s Day. Photo: Peter Morrison / PA Images.
A farewell notice in a shop window in Belfast city center as Northern Ireland entered a new prolonged lockdown on St. Stephen’s Day. Photo: Peter Morrison / PA Images.

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