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– That the border will open before Easter, nobody believes. With each passing day, the situation in Strömstad gets worse and worse, he tells NTB.
He and the rest of the municipal council in the Swedish border town are now preparing for an unemployment rate that will rise to around 20 percent in the new year.
Invisible wall
From being a line through the asphalt, the border between Norway and Sweden has become an invisible wall. Hansson’s repeated pleas to Norway to facilitate the shutdown have not been heard. Now think that it will only happen after Easter next year, which begins on March 29.
– It is depressing. Many families will lose all their income. It will create major social problems, says Hansson.
– It hurts in the heart, especially now before Christmas.
Red traffic light for all cross-border trade
– there is a limit
Strömstad lives largely off the income of Norwegian merchants and tourists. But Nordby’s supermarket, Sweden’s largest, has lost up to 95 percent of sales. The giant parking lot outside the center is deserted.
Center director Ståle Løvheim tries to keep up his spirits.
– Is there a limit on how long you can wait?
– I have chosen not to think those thoughts, but to focus on what we are going to do when we open. But of course, somewhere there is a limit.
Bright light
In Halden, a few kilometers away, the situation is diametrically opposite. The Christmas lights shine in competition with the commercial booth, which can rejoice at the new sales records.
Already in week 47, the entire turnover of last year was touched.
– He’s completely sick. We have always believed that cross-border trade represented a lot. But now we know, says center director Britt Brattli.
At Vinmonopolet, turnover has increased by 200 percent, says store manager Anneli Christiansen.
Harry’s shower is not the same
Hiring new
– We had to hire five new ones. It’s pretty funny now, smile.
Measured in liters, the turnover has almost tripled compared to last year. In December, Christiansen estimates it will sell more than 88,700 liters of beer, wine and spirits compared to 29,400 liters at the same time last year.
– These are absolutely incredible numbers, she says.
In Strömstad, the Norwegians left almost NOK 2 billion in Systembolaget before the pandemic. Now it is anything but busy.
– We have the most customers in the whole of Sweden, but not anymore, says store manager Alexander Johansson with great calm.
Waiting to open
But also in Halden, the closure of the border has had its price. At least 200 of the city’s residents who work in Swedish shops have lost their jobs.
Some of them have gotten new jobs in Halden, but far from all.
– As of today, there are 88 job openings at Halden and 1,137 job seekers. Needless to say, this doesn’t work, says Nav boss at Halden and Aremark, Jon Harald Thorsås.
Despite a jubilant business industry, most people in Halden hope the border will reopen soon.
– The Swedes are our sister people and always have been, says the Mayor of Halden, Anne-Kari Holm (Spain). When the border closed this spring, he thought it would only last a few months.
– So we do not anticipate that it would be a disaster for Strömstad, he says.
Hope in the making
It remains to be seen what will happen when the border opens. In Halden, hopes are growing that changes in shopping habits and tax breaks on alcohol and tobacco, among other things, will dampen some of the business leakage to Sweden.
– Perhaps people have become more aware that by buying at Halden, we keep more jobs, Holm says optimistically.
Swedish traders, on the other hand, don’t think the tax cuts have much to say. In any case, prices are much lower in Sweden, notes that all NTB / TT have spoken.
