Ariana Lopez Pasquare
07/14/2021 19:10
Clarín.com
Zonal
Updated 07/14/2021 19:10
About a month after the reopening of La Salada and the sales outlook remains in critical condition.
After a 2020 where for most of the year they could not open their positions, the tradesmen speak of
work at less than half a machine
and with the fear that the Delta variant will complicate things even more: "If we have to close the most are not going to hold out. "
The situation in the shopping trips of
Ingeniero Budge
,
Lomas de Zamora district
, is once again complicated after the attempt to save sales in the days before
Father's Day
, which for them is normally the third date with the most sales in the country. year (only behind Christmas and Mother's Day).
The largest promenades, such as
Punta Mogote
,
Urkupiña
and
Ocean
, remain open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., but the workers assure that "there is a lot left" for it to be La Salada of two years ago, where there is no I couldn't even walk the hallways.
Now the showmen have to take turns, opening every other day.
In Urkupiña, with this mechanism, there are about 200 jobs that work.
"At
30% in terms of sales
, which on Father's Day rose to 40%", calculates Carlos Origoni, a street vendor.
The complex panorama is completed with a crowd that they describe as "liar", that is to say that for the same number of people the sales are lower because those who go buy less than before.
And with prices that although they
increased approximately 40% in relation to the pre-pandemic
, they leave less margins.
"It was balanced down. Costs were absorbed because otherwise it would be inaccessible for the customers who come," says Origoni.
"For example, a women's jean that used to cost $ 700, now you can get it for $ 850, or if it was worth $ 950 now it went up to $ 1,150. But that is the minimum difference," says Sergio Corra, from Rivera Sur, one of the peripheral fairs .
And he explains: "Just as in some places the difference is there,
in others it may be above 40%
increase. It depends on the costs, the type of rental, it is not the same to sell inside (of the walks) than in a gallery, there is the cost of the one that has employees ... Everything influences ".
So you can get a men's jogging slippers for $ 1,200, men's sweaters that are around $ 500 or $ 600, imitation Gucci women's t-shirts around $ 400 or imitation Pink leggings for $ 600.
"Each manufacturer has its way of marketing," says the Urkupiña fair.
"A sports outfit can be in 2,000 pesos, or a shoe in 900. At the current price. If you had to sell at the prices before the pandemic ...", he says and pauses that means "it would be impossible."
"Everything went up," he says, "but manufacturers
try to accommodate prices by balancing down
."
Another reality that paints are the sales at cost due to
the need to make fresh money
right away.
"The protocols are followed, although sometimes there are transgressions, as everywhere," they say.
Photo: Luciano Thieberger.
"They tend to build like the gondola tips in supermarkets and there they liquidate everything," he explains, "because they have to cover a check or because they need cloth for the new season and to get it cheap they set up shopping cooperatives. So what they sell is nothing. more to collect money. "
The situation is not good, Origoni insists, and the worry about a third wave accompanies them.
"
You are not recovering from so much pandemic and from two consecutive closures. If the Delta comes and they tell us that we have to close
15 days ... Besides, you know that it is not 15 days because then there is the new decree for another 15 more, and
we are not going to hold out
. The people, neither the spirit nor the money will hold, "he assures with concern.
"Father's Day was not bad. But we are scraping the bottom of the can. If you are like this and suddenly you find a dulce de leche in the bottom that you did not see, it works for you. But the reality is that we are not working as before, it was crazy, "he said.
"
We are at less than half march, and 30% this is not enough,
" he continues.
To add desolation, the weather does not help, as it happened this past Monday.
"If it rains, no one comes," says another vendor, from one of the stores that overlook the street.
There are tradesmen who went online for sale because they can no longer cover the rent.
To cope with the crisis, the stallholders try to figure it out anyway. A new custom is to take his family of models and take photos of them with the clothes they sell and then upload it to their WhatsApp statuses and try to add up with virtual sales. This is an alternative for everyone, but more than anything else for many shopkeepers who are no longer given the numbers and cannot rent a position again.
From
Ocean,
its controller, Jorge San Giorgio agrees with the diagnosis and highlights the obligation to limit the entry of people to 30% and comply with the protocols.
He also says that the lack of buses is felt - one of the biggest requests from the fairgrounds is
to enable the return of the buses that used to bring customers from the interior
.
"It is not like in other times due to the limitations of the transfer, but two years ago it was at 50% of what it was in 2015," says San Giorgio.
At the
Rivera Sur Fair and at Olimpo,
other sales sectors add another point: "The movement of people that can be seen is a liar," says Sergio Correa, from RIvera Sur.
"There are much less sales than two years ago. People buy what they need. Before you could give yourself the luxury of buying clothes more often and it shows that they are taking care of their pocket.
But this movement is a liar because there can be a lot of people and that does not mean that everyone buys,
"he says.
Another enemy, the weather: "Saturday was good, but rainy and cold days, like Monday, are a tear."
Photo: Luciano Thieberger.
He also agrees that there are few stores open and that the crisis made many unable to return.
"For some it
was costly to pay being closed, so they preferred not to return
or wait until later because if you don't have income, it is very difficult to pay a rent.
There are people who closed, directly, because it became impossible,
" he says.
"We are still happy to have been able to reopen, even if it is. The truth is that it was crazy to have this so big, that it gives so much work, closed. It could not resist anymore," he concludes.
Protocols
Something in which the fairgrounds agree is that, with the drop in sales as an undesirable ally, the health protocols established by the authorities of the Commune and the Province are fulfilled.
"There may be some circumstantial crowding, but in general there is no less care than in any other fair or shopping", indicates a vendor.
Origoni says that trucks usually pass three times a day to disinfect.
"Most of the time the distancing protocols are followed, sometimes it overflows like everywhere else, but most of the time people use their masks themselves and even prefer not to enter if they do not have one or if there are many people crowded together ", he relates.
"We respect the chinstraps and the permanent hygiene of hands," adds Correa, "although there are people who sometimes do not comply, as everywhere."
Among the mandatory measures, in addition to the use of masks, there are temperature controls when entering closed fairs, distance in the lines and differentiated doors to enter or exit.
In addition, there is a single direction of circulation to avoid crossings between clients.
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