Coronavirus in Romania: Malls reduce their opening hours, Lidl limits number of clients in supermarkets, retail sales boom

Some of the biggest mall operators in Romania, AFI Europe, NEPI Rockcastle and Ceetrus, announced on Friday that they would reduce the opening hours of their shopping centers in the following period to allow the prevention and limiting the exposure to the coronavirus.

AFI announced that its two malls in Bucharest and Ploiesti will be open from 12:00 to 20:00. However, the drug stores in the mall and the hypermarkets will operate normally.

NEPI Rockcastle, the biggest mall owner in Romania, announced a similar measure for its malls in Bucharest (Promenada, Mega Mall, Vulcan Value Center, and Iris Titan Shopping Center), which will be open between 12:00 and 20:00, except for pharmacies and hypermarkets, which will operate normally.

Ceetrus will also limit the program of the stores within its shopping centers around Romania to 12:00-20:00, with the exception of hypermarkets, starting March 16.

The Veranda mall in Bucharest announced a similar measure.

Lidl limits number of clients in supermarkets

Lidl, one of the biggest retailers in Romania, has also enforced special safety measures amid the coronavirus crisis. The company has limited the number of clients who can enter its supermarkets at the same time.

“In order to protect the health of our customers and employees, we have taken a series of measures to limit the crowding to prevent the spread of Covid virus19. These measures include limiting the number of customers present at the same time in certain Lidl stores,” Lidl representatives told Economica.net.

In about 70 stores with a large flow of customers, access to the store is limited. A security guard within the store monitors the number of people waiting at the cash registers and tells his colleague outside when it’s time to open or close access for people waiting to enter the sore.

“It is an unprecedented measure for Lild and for modern commerce in Romania,” the company said.

Retail sales increase amid the crisis as people stock more basic necessity products

The sales of the hypermarkets and supermarkets in Romania have increased significantly in recent days as more people went to buy basic necessity products, especially in big cities.

Auchan Romania, one of the big retailers on the local market, announced that its sales have doubled in the last couple of days. The company’s representatives say they are making considerable efforts to support the increased demand.

“In these days of escalation of the medical situation, of agitation, fear, news in flow - domestic and international, in addition to the call for calm, responsibility and trust, which we have been doing for more than two weeks, I want to express sincere public thanks to all the employees in Auchan stores and services and, on a larger scale, to all the employees in retail, simple people who, every day, through important efforts, come to your support to provide you with the necessary ones. Only from the beginning of this week we have been sending 120 trucks daily to our stores, sales have increased a lot, even 100% for a few days, the number of customers is the same. Our people are working in quite difficult conditions to handle the increased orders, freight pallets, filling shelves, everything in terms of ensuring hygiene and safety for customers. I bow to everyone for the responsible work they do, for the solidarity they demonstrate and I assure them that all their efforts will be rewarded. I am proud that we have such teams,” said the general manager of Auchan Retail Romania, Ionuţ Ardeleanu, quoted by Agerpres.

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