The man was surprised by the work of “Senukai” during the quarantine: he did not buy any food

On Wednesday, the Cabinet decided to allow the opening of small non-food stores (up to 300 square meters) with a separate entrance starting next week. Large building materials retailers will not yet be able to fully open their doors. Currently, they can only have food sales departments.

Employees advise buyers

Delphi Letters from readers and a video of the Senukai building materials trade network working in quarantine reached the editorial board. The video shows that in the store you can enter not only the food department, but also go through the laminate, tile, carpet, plumbing and bathroom furniture departments.

According to the reader, putties, paints, plastic finishing boards, dirt and other goods are sold that are not a necessity. Ukmergės st. There were about 20 customers in the store, according to the reader, and the staff counseled customers in the store, for example, in the bathroom.

Took a tap, bought and collected the merchandise at the collection point

The reader himself tried to buy, he believes, a non-essential product: a kitchen tap.

“I went to the cashier of the store where the cashier was. I showed the product code and said I wanted to buy. He said he couldn’t pay at the box office so he would call a consultant right away. A minute later, a consultant walked over to the nearby cash register, looked at the product code, and printed out a collection sheet.

I paid for the item at the cash register. I left the money at the register and handed myself the receipt from the register. After 10 minutes, I picked up the item at the dispensing point across the store, ”he says.

Buyers mainly turn to construction products

In his letter, another reader spoke of a similar situation at the Senukai store in the northern city.

“Most of the store is closed, but cement, putty, garden supplies, extension cords, taps are sold. It’s these products that shoppers visit the most, certainly not in the processed foods section on the sidelines.

Naturally, the question arises as to why others who sell these products should be closed ”, the reader resented.

Ministry: Only the departments where food is sold should be operational

The Ministry of Economy and Innovation points out in its comment that stores that mainly sell construction goods, but also find food, should not be considered as food outlets or should only have food outlets.

“These stores can sell online when products are delivered to your home or delivered to collection points,” the ministry said.

“Senukai”: trade in non-essential goods is not prohibited

According to Senukai representatives, the sale of non-essential goods is not prohibited, as long as the main activity of the stores is the sale of food, feed and similar goods.

“In accordance with the Government’s decision and restricting our activities, we allow residents to safely buy the most necessary household goods along with all the most important food products in the main Food stores in Senukai according to the established procedure.

Various failures and other daily challenges around the home, unfortunately, don’t wait for the quarantine to end. Therefore, various household items are necessary for the population even in these tense times.

Our activities also contribute to public safety, as we allow people to avoid queuing at large food supermarkets that actively sell non-food products, ”says Mantas Jurkus, Vice President of Kesko Senukai.

It notes that, as determined by the Government, only Senukai stores with main food stores are currently open. Its main activities are the food trade, veterinary medicine, animal feed, etc. goods. The rest – household essentials – are said to be a limited part, which is allowed according to the procedure established by the Government.

“Most of the other goods needed for home and home repairs can be purchased from Senukai only by ordering separately. These products can be consulted in the secure booking services. Communication with consultants takes no more than 15 minutes and it meets all safety requirements. The ordered products can be quickly picked up at designated locations, “says M. Jurkus.

According to him, the activities of the stores are organized in accordance with all the established measures of customer flow management, safe distance, health, hygiene and other security measures.

“Senukai is also successfully developing a multi-channel commerce system that enables people to receive the necessary goods in the way that is most convenient for them: via the Internet, phone and email,” says the vice president of the retail network.

“At this time, we are fully prepared, when the Government allows it, to resume full-fledged activities, ensuring all public safety requirements that apply to food supermarkets, and even strengthening control over their implementation,” he says. .

Armonaitė: The situation allows you to go to the side of freedoms, not prohibitions

Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė hoped in the “Delfi diena” program that it would no longer be necessary to talk about prohibitions and restrictions, but about the possibility of opening more points of sale.

“We are talking about several networks open to food. From the beginning, this debate has been increasing, until now the situation has allowed us to move not to prohibitions and restrictions, but to freedoms. I have seen the solutions of a retail chain myself: there are large fences built on drills and other construction materials.

Apparently having more outlets where people can go to buy food is not a bad thing. “I really hope we don’t have to talk about bans and restrictions, but about the possibility of opening more places,” he said.

“I hope that those who open now understand that the additional steps of the opening will depend on the success of their opening. If all goes well, there will be no chimneys and order, we will be able to release more. I hope there is no abuse of this procedure,” he added.

Delphi Remember that next week non-grocery stores of up to 300 square meters, beauty or massage salons, market traders and other service providers will open.

The doors will be open to those stores with a sales area that does not exceed 300 square meters and that have “a direct entrance from the outside or a separate entrance used only by the customers of that store.”