Spring sales start with low expectations
The spring midseason sales started on Tuesday with the compulsory use of a face mask the only measure remaining against the coronavirus. The sales window will close on May 14 for brick-and-mortar stores and on May 15 for e-shops.
This Sunday, May 8, stores will be allowed to open from 11 a.m. till 8 p.m., as on the first Sunday of every sales window.
Although the lifting of the other pandemic measures, and mainly the obligation of a Covid pass and the cap on the number of customers allowed in a store at any given time should have created some enthusiasm in the market, the wave of price hikes that has been eating into disposable incomes allows little scope for optimism.
The signs since the start of the year have not been encouraging at all and market turnover did not even meet expectations in the period ahead of Easter; it was significantly better than in 2020 and 2021, but did not match that of Easter 2019, according to retail commerce professionals.
The same sources estimate that some 30% of market turnover has been redirected to energy bills and supermarket spending.
