Huge blow to retail in the 2010s

A quarter of Greek retail businesses disappeared altogether in the decade from 2010 to 2020, an indication of the heavy price paid by the sector during the financial crisis and then during the pandemic crisis, according to an Alpha Bank analysis.

In the first years of the financial crisis alone, in the period 2010-2014, the retail sector lost 61% of its gross value added, only to recover some ground afterward, reducing the cumulative loss to 49% in the decade 2010-2020.

In the same decade it cumulatively lost 30% of its turnover, which is related to the fact that thousands of businesses were forced to shutter, but also that overall consumption fell, affecting even those businesses that endured the pressure.

This development resulted in thousands of workers being on the spectrum of unemployment, with the cumulative reduction of those employed in retail trade reaching 13%, as revealed in the study “Retail Commerce, Business Trends and Consumer Behavior in Greece,” prepared by the Economic Studies Department of Alpha Bank and made public on Thursday.