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“We don’t have time to count the blows, in the spring the quarantine arrived, now the street is uprooted, we have been without sidewalks since March. Everyone is upset, ”says Aurimas Breivė, owner and manager of the Pizza di Napoli cafe, located on the corner of February 16 with Respublikos street, which is not open to visitors.
The businessman says he understands that Panevėžys needs to be renovated, but repairing the infrastructure means inevitable losses. Since the end of August, when the section of Calle Vasario 16 to the intersection of A. Smetona was closed due to the planned reconstruction, the turnover of A. Breivė’s company has decreased by 30%. And renovation works on the street are scheduled to continue for more than a year.
“Even on weekends, few people visit us. And in the past, hordes of people came. It will probably be even worse when it starts to rain, no one will want to go to the cafe on earth,” fears the owner of the pizzeria.
According to him, customers choose the most convenient place. That is why, on February 16 Street, where life used to be in the afternoons, now there is silence.
“We are already hearing a comment that customers are communicating with us by turning the wheel around the center three times because there is no place to park closer to the car. These visitors will not be here again next time. And where is the dust, when it is dry, we can barely get it out of the room and onto the windows. Dirty showcases are a really poor business card of the company “, – A. Breivė mentions the drawbacks.
But the businessman rejects the idea of bankruptcy. It is considered an expensive lease in the city center, hired staff.
“We have no right to close,” said the owner of the pizzeria, who also waited a couple of years ago and eagerly awaited the end of the reconstruction of the adjacent Respublikos street.
Difficult start
The Old Town Gallery, a gallery-shop that opened on February 16 Street just a year ago, is reluctant to give up and finds itself in the same trouble. Its manager Rasita Arlauskienė only sighs that the first year of the company has turned into a difficult test.
“It is very bad, there are no people, we do not know how to survive,” the businesswoman does not hide.
Unavoidable street repair work: scraped asphalt layer, managed foundation, coarse gravel scares passersby. The gallery owners still had tiles on their doors, but that didn’t help. According to R. Arlauskien<2FEMININE>, from Monday to Wednesday hardly anyone visits her store. Only towards the end of the week, when holiday gifts are needed, 5-6 potential buyers open the gallery doors.
“We still traditionally organize new art exhibitions every month. We just brought a new one, but we have no longer organized its opening. There are very few sales left, no profits, only expenses ”, the gallery manager consoles.
It’s very bad, there are no people, we don’t know how to survive.
Rasita Arlauskiene
She is glad that at least there is no need to worry about the rent: the company bought the premises. However, the return on investment will have to wait a long time.
“The first year does not spoil us, all the misfortunes have happened to us: quarantine, then street repairs. In July, the situation seemed to be improving: foreigners and migrants arriving in Panevėžys became interested in the works of art. And now it is calm again, there is no income, two employees are working, the heating season is still approaching “, – the owner of the gallery waits for customers incessantly.
The most faithful stayed
Another “resident” of February 16 Street – the bakery “Cake 2 take” counts as losing a quarter of customers.
“It’s difficult: the billing has dropped, the number of buyers has dropped. Only the most loyal customers come, who appreciate our products very much, “says Dalia Kraniauskienė, director of the bakery, which has been in business for three years.
February 16 Street in Panevėžys
© Sekundė.lt
His company in Lithuania suffered 80 percent after the first day of quarantine. losses and was forced to close immediately. The businesswoman is also determined to survive the street repairs; after all, the company employed seven people and is still bound by the obligations of the lease.
Builders are being replaced by archaeologists
For the businessmen of Calle 16 de Febrero, who are going through difficult years, the Municipality has committed to re-paving at least the demolished sidewalk by December, and it is also planned to fill the demolished part of the street with soil this year so that the transport can work if necessary. But all the street finishes are waiting until the end of next year. The reconstruction of Calle Vasario 16, which is currently being partially renovated, has been temporarily suspended due to unexpected finds. In late September, workers unearthed the remains of people by installing new rainwater networks near the Panevėžys district municipality. This forced the project’s contractors to give way to archaeologists. They speculate that the excavated remains may date back to the 17th century, and that an entire cemetery could be built underground at this location.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, we must purchase exploratory archaeological excavations for the stretch of Calle 16 de Febrero where the bones were found. And then a detailed archaeological investigation may be necessary. All of this can even take until next summer. Nobody knew this would happen, ”says Dalius Vadluga, Head of the City’s Municipal Infrastructure Department.
However, according to him, due to such historical surprises, the entire second stage of the Freedom Square renovation project should not bog down; where possible, the work continues. Elektros Street is currently being rebuilt, crossing to February 16.
According to D. Vadluga, given the archaeological findings in these streets, the ground was prepared for the foundations and the reconstructed rainwater networks were completed.
“The work has not turned in that direction, but we hope that we will update the streets as planned without much delay,” Vadluga tries to promise.
Ask for patience
The head of the Entrepreneurs Division of February 16 asks for patience. According to him, it is impossible to further accelerate the work, even the matters of technological reconstruction take time. According to D. Vadluga, everything possible is being done so that the business has less losses: the project contractor is trying to guarantee access to them.
“There was a meeting with the businessmen, they understand that the street needs to be repaired and inconveniences are inevitable,” says the manager.
After reconstruction, Elektros and Vasario 16-osios streets should have a view of the streets of the old town: the old asphalt pavement will be replaced by pavement, the sidewalks will be paved with them, the rainwater networks and lighting will be rebuilt. The works are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021.
Re-satisfied customers After the “baptism” of the repair, the businessmen of Respublikos street, who have been in business for more than a year, say that it was worth the suffering, others are still trying to recover the traffic they had before.
“Our coffee did not suffer losses, perhaps due to its peculiarities: in summer, as every year, we vacationed for two months, and when we work, we only receive visitors from 11 to 16 hours. We did not notice any decrease in customers during repairs. They all survived, and after the repairs maybe they even increased a bit. And the street is very cozy and beautiful now, ”said Giedrė Blinkevičienė, manager of Rojaus paukštė cafe.
Rokas Jakutis, director and owner of the Shanghai restaurant, says he cannot today assess the impact of the Republic Street repair on business.
“The repair is finished, the coronavirus has begun, that is why we continue to suffer. The flow of visitors that we had before the reconstruction of the street has not returned, we assume that the culprit is COVID-19. We are trying to re-tame our clients, we are organizing all kinds of events, I think they will come back, it just takes time ”, R. Jakutis does not lose optimism.
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