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Dovilė Lengvenienė, the marketing manager of the Urmas commercial city in Kaunas, told the “Monetary Affairs” program that only a small part of the merchants returned after the first releases. There was no influx of buyers in the first week, which was also affected by the existing movement restrictions.
“There has been a slight increase in the flow of buyers, but it is not a big increase. We cannot say that we had very large queues. This is influenced, I think, by the fact that the municipalities are not yet open at this time. Buyers from the Kaunas region came to “Urma” from various places, not just from Kaunas city. As a result, we still cannot say that many buyers have returned, “said D. Lengvenienė on Monday.
On Wednesday, the government decided to extend restrictions on movement between municipalities until March 15. However, the movement has been liberalized in circular municipalities, that is, between cities and their district municipalities.
D. Lengvenienė said that early buyers mainly buy children’s clothing and items. However, it is still very difficult for many traders.
“Most are waiting for additional launches, as now only stores with separate entrances can work. Those are all stores and they are open. They hope to free up at least some of that working capital as a result of the purchase of winter season goods. Sure everyone was prepared and had to close stores, selling a very small portion online.
There is already a stage where it is psychologically difficult. Really, for the most part, even if you sell something online, you don’t earn them more than 10 percent. ex payroll. This is a very small part. That support is also so small that it can be survived. The mood is really bad. Just because it’s unclear when it will end. If it was a phase of a month or two, but until it clears up … There has been talk of a third wave of the pandemic, it is even more worrying for people.
The small ones feel disturbed and that the competition is not fair because it is in the large retail chains where buyers can buy all these goods throughout the winter and small entrepreneurs cannot sell. They did not have the conditions to work with exactly the same range, both winter articles and household chemicals, furniture, etc. Everything that buyers can buy right now in supermarkets. And in the small shops, these products were stopped all winter long, ”said D. Lengvenienė.
According to her, merchants endured the first quarantine, but not all will endure the second. It is estimated that about 10 percent. will no longer trade with “Urma”.
“In fact, traders are enterprising people, they were used to surviving in a highly competitive environment all the time and before the pandemic, they usually didn’t get any support, they just earned their job. However, the situation is certainly not easy at the moment, because we already have some who have announced that their businesses will close and will not return after the pandemic. The other part is still under consideration: they just don’t know how to deal with employees. Yes, subsidies are now available, but they don’t know what the situation will be after a pandemic. Another thing is that after the first wave, for companies, at least merchants, the biggest help was the reimbursement of rental costs and the mechanism that was established through the Invega system, which may have had a break at the beginning , but then it was well done and for everyone, of course. This has caused many entrepreneurs to weather the first wave, do not walk away, and it is now difficult to respond, but it probably will. We estimate that about 10 percent. I will not return, “said D. Lengvenienė.
Merchants apply discounts, decline support
Urmo’s press release says that customers mostly buy discounted clothing and casual wear, but deep discounts are not a good life for sellers. The purchased winter collections have never been sold for quarantine and are now obsolete. As a result, many stores sell warm clothing for half, and sometimes only one-third of the price to raise at least some working capital. These are necessary to buy new spring and summer collections.
Traders have also drawn attention to the unenviable situation of start-ups, which receive much less or no help due to the supportive rules.
“Every year we have to solve this dilemma: it will be winter or not, ask for winter clothes or not. We decided to take a chance and order for this season. It was winter and commerce was not, because we are not working under quarantine. Now we have to sell everything at 50-70 percent. discounts so that we have working capital to acquire new collections: spring, summer.
Because I work according to individual activities, like everyone else I received 257 euros per month. Of course, that is very little and it would be nice to get more. However, I’m not used to asking questions, I tend to work and earn. Now is a time when it is not easy for everyone, “said Jūratė Gugienė, who sells Italian clothing for women and girls in the market town” Urmas “.
Edgaras Sekmokas, representative of Pako Lorente, also drew attention to the situation regarding support for start-ups.
“We open in 2020 and support is calculated according to 2019. GPM paid, so we didn’t get anything. The store that operates in Urme already opened after the announcement of the quarantine. Although it was still possible to work at that time, it turns out that downtime is paid only to employees who were hired prior to quarantine. Because of this situation, I knocked on the doors of various officials, but was left with nothing.
I applied for a loan from Invega, it turns out that we did not meet the requirements there … The most interesting thing is that our company, which started operating in Latvia around the same time, is evaluated there in a completely different way. Like many other business entities, it received very strong support there, even though it recently opened ”, E. Sekmokas compared the situations in Lithuania and Latvia.
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