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Supermarket bosses are foaming about new rules: "Endless queues, counterproductive, incomprehensible"

2020-12-04T09:31:40.174Z


A good week ago, the federal and state governments agreed to extend the partial lockdown. In addition, new rules for retailers have been in effect since December 1st.


A good week ago, the federal and state governments agreed to extend the partial lockdown.

In addition, new rules for retailers have been in effect since December 1st.

  • In the fight against the

    corona

    pandemic, the federal and state governments have agreed on new restrictions for retailers.

  • According to this, even fewer customers should be allowed into the shops from 800 square meters onwards than below this mark.

  • This is causing

    displeasure

    in the industry

    .

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Update from December 2, 2020

- The new access restrictions for the retail trade are met with complete incomprehension in the industry.

"We consider the limitation of the number of customers from 800 square meters of sales area to be counterproductive and incomprehensible," said

Edeka

boss

Markus Mosa

.

The CEO of the Cologne-based

Rewe

group,

Lionel Souque

, was also severely

challenged

with the new regulation.

Before Christmas it will lead to "endless queues" and "chaotic situations in front of the supermarkets," he told the online portal

Der Westen.

The trade association

HDE

had previously made a similar

statement

.

There was “no objective reason to issue different regulations for sales areas above and below 800 square meters”,

HDE

managing director

Stefan Genth

had warned.

According to the rules for retailers that have been in force since December 1, one customer per ten square meters is allowed up to 800 square meters of sales area.

On the other hand, from 800 square meters, only one customer is allowed into the store for every 20 square meters.

Aldi, Lidl, Obi or Ikea: from December, tougher rules will apply - consumers should pay attention to this

First report from December 1, 11.30 a.m.

- In the fight against the

corona

pandemic, the federal and state governments tightened the rules for supermarkets, hardware stores, furniture stores and discounters last Wednesday.

The new requirements came into force on December 1st.

What the customers of

Aldi

,

Lidl

,

Obi

,

Bauhaus

or

Ikea

have to be

prepared

for.

An overview:

Corona: What new rules have the federal and state governments basically agreed on in retail?

Last Wednesday (November 25), the federal and state governments

extended the

measures already in place for the

corona

pandemic - initially until December 20.

For the retail trade, however, new guidelines apply immediately.

According to this, from December 1, fewer customers will be allowed to shop in shops with more than 800 square meters than before.

The new rules apply to the vast majority of supermarkets, to hardware stores like

OBI

,

Bauhaus

or

Hagebau

and furniture stores like

Ikea

.

The operators must use bouncers or distance markers to ensure that the rules are observed.

What specific rules now apply in retail?

Basically: up to 800 square meters of sales area, only one customer per 10 square meters is allowed.

In a shop with 600 square meters, a maximum of 60 customers can stay at the same time.

The stricter regulation now takes effect over 800 square meters.

Above the limit, it only allows one person per 20 square meters - and that makes the rule a bit tricky.

For a shop with 1000 square meters now applies: 80 customers are allowed in for the first 800 square meters, but only 10 for the remaining 200 square meters.

However, the regulation on the maximum number of people per unit of area is not entirely selective.

In the resolution paper of the federal and state governments on the 800-square-meter rule, “persons” are mentioned.

This means that when determining the maximum number of people permitted per business, the employees would also be included, which would mean that the actually permitted number of customers would be even lower.

In the regulations at the state level, however, there is talk of "customers".

According to the trade association, the only exception is the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

There, the corresponding ordinance refers to "persons", similar to the decision paper.

Aldi, Lidl, Obi or Ikea: from December, tougher rules apply - this is how controls are carried out 

+

Partial lockdown due to Corona: new rules apply from today.

The trade association warns of long lines.

© Lino Mirgeler / dpa

The retailers try to meet the requirements through different approaches.

The shopping cart restriction is widespread.

According to this, the total number of shopping carts and baskets corresponds exactly to the maximum number of customers allowed.

When there is no shopping cart left, customers have to wait to enter.

This procedure was already widespread with the first lockdown in spring.

In the meantime, however, many branches of

Aldi

,

Lidl

,

Edeka, Kaufland

or

Rewe

have technically upgraded and installed traffic light systems.

The number of customers is counted when passing a light barrier and then reported back to a traffic light.

It is unclear to what extent compliance with the requirements is also monitored.

In the municipalities, the public order office would initially be responsible for this.

Do children also count?

The stricter regulation serves to protect

against infection

.

Therefore, children also count towards the maximum number per unit area.

So if you can organize it, you should leave your children at home.

However, this is often not possible - for example because the children are simply too small.

Supermarkets and hardware stores: which rules should consumers pay attention to when shopping?

Consumers should plan enough time to shop.

Because of the maximum number of available customers, there can be long queues, especially in the run-up to Christmas.

Consumers should therefore keep their distance even in lines in front of the shops.

They should also think of warm clothing and a mouth and nose cover and put on their masks while waiting in line.

In many parking lots at supermarkets, a mask is required anyway.

Aldi, Lidl, Obi or Ikea: Which days are particularly critical when shopping this year?

This year, the Christmas holidays fall on Thursday (Christmas Eve), Friday (Christmas Day) and Saturday (Christmas Day).

Including Sunday (December 27), the food should be enough for four days - especially since it is still completely unclear whether the restaurants will be allowed to open again during the holidays.

Given this starting point, many consumers should stock up on groceries on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (December 21-23) this year.

So there are long lines on these days.

If you can, you should avoid the peak hours in the evening and switch to off-peak times up to lunchtime and in the afternoon between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

List of rubric lists: © Julian Stratenschulte / dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-12-04

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