Fewer customers in Bonn Retail sales low this Christmas
Bonn · This year's holiday retail business fell short of local retailers' expectations. Blamed for the low sales are the Verdi lawsuit against Sunday shopping in Bonn and the poor traffic situation.
The Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Euskirchen retail association is only partially satisfied with this year's Christmas business. And this despite the fact that consumers have more money at their disposal than in previous years thanks to rising incomes and low inflation. "Sales fell short of retailers' expectations and, for the most part, were worse than last year," explained association chairman Jannis Vassiliou.
It isn’t only competition from increasing online trade or bad weather that the retail association blames for the poor sales this year. Local factors have also caused problems for retailers.
Sunday shopping plays an important role in bringing in holiday revenue for the local shops. One of those key Sundays is on the second Advent weekend. This year, the service union Verdi took the City of Bonn to court to challenge against Sunday shopping on December 9 in Bonn and December 16 in Bad Godesberg. Their initiative put a stop to the Sunday shopping, having a negative effect on retail business.
But Vassiliou also criticized that the local retail trade had lost customers due to the poor traffic situation in Bonn.
(Orig. text: Ulla Thiede, Translation: Carol Kloeppel)
