Thessaloniki traders appeal to health experts over ‘death of the salesman’

Shopkeepers in Thessaloniki appealed to the health experts advising the government on its management of the pandemic on Thursday, calling for a reversal of last week’s decision to continue the ban on retail commerce in the northern port city.

“For the past five exhausting months for the people, buses have been crowded, streets have crowded and so has the waterfront – and retail has been closed. Yet the virus continues to spread. Whatever the cause, the result for us is, unfortunately, the same: absolute disaster, the death of the salesman,” the Thessaloniki Traders’ Association said in an open letter addressed to the committee of experts in Athens.

The letter went on to express the association’s “confidence” that the experts will “factor the death of commerce in the city” before making any new decisions that will further impact the city’s economic activity.

A months-long ban on in-person retail commerce was lifted in most parts of the country on Monday – including in the Greek capital – but not in Thessaloniki and Patra, where new coronavirus infections have been on an upward trajectory for several weeks.