05/22/2020 - 11:17
- Clarín.com
- Society
Two weeks ago, on Saturday, May 9, smiles invaded Mar del Plata during the pilot test of the reopening of retail stores. Clothing stores, shoe stores and hairdressers, among many others, reopened their doors under strict protocols amid the pandemic of the new coronavirus. However, it was just that: an essay that never happened again. For this reason, hundreds of merchants claim an exceptional permit to work on the most famous streets of the spa town.
The protests started on Thursday and continue this Friday. The owners and employees of the premises put their ingenuity to the test and that is why they no longer stay in a saucepan or a clap as it happened in the last hours. Self-convened by WhatsApp, they meet at the doors of their businesses from 11 in to persist with the demand for reopening and receive the final approval of the Government of the Province of Buenos Aires, covered by the approval that Guillermo Montenegro, the mayor, who said that the current epidemiological situation in Mar del Plata allowed progress in the lack of confinement.
"Until we open, we are going to be different actions and everything we can so that this is resolved once and for all," shout Güemes, San Juan, Juan B. Justo and Peatonal San Martín streets, where the most protests.
The measures this Friday will be varied. According to the media 0223 , in the businesses located on Güemes there will be a "percherazo": the owners will go out with clothes hangers that they sold there until the quarantine prevented it.
Mar del Plata merchants protests for the reopening of businesses. (Télam)
In Calle San Juan, meanwhile, the blinds will be raised at "half-staff" as a sign of "mourning", due to the serious economic situation facing merchants. At the same time, they will also turn on the security alarms .
Finally, in the center, will be the owners of gastronomic shops - one of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic - to move to the doors of the Municipality of General Pueyrredon. The objective is to be received by the municipal authorities.
Mar del Plata merchants not only demand the opening. They also require financial assistance to be able to meet the different costs and obligations on a monthly basis. It is that although they have turned to online sales and delivery, they do not reach the volume of sales that they normally had with the doors open.
The pilot test two weeks ago in Mar del Plata. (Diego Izquierdo / Telam)
"Everything is more than difficult, I do not know how much more time we are going to be able to endure," Marcela, owner of the clothing store "Las Pepas", told the media outlet, who noted that the situation is even more difficult for those who must pay the rent and for those who could not access the subsidy to pay 50% of the employees' salaries.
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