‘Click-and-collect’ retail to resume as planned on January 11, says official

The “click-and-collect” system of shopping from retail stores will resume as planned on Monday, January 11, after a weeklong hiatus designed to contain a spike in coronavirus infections in the wake of the holidays, a Greek official said on Tuesday.

“We are restricting movement, and this will help broaden the scope so that schools can reopen in a safer manner,” General Secretary for Commerce and Consumer Protection Panagiotis Stambolidis told Mega television on Tuesday, expressing confidence that retail stores will be allowed to reopen next Monday with curbside pickups, known as “click away” Greek.

“The market is shut. The click away [system] was a choice we gave closed businesses so they could generate some income beyond the assistance they receive from the state,” Stambolidis said, referring to the government’s decision to reopen retail – with limitations – ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

“Our desire is to return to how we were before the latest lockdown. That’s the plan so far, to return on Monday to [all the activities] that were in operation during the holidays,” he said. He did not clarify whether this would also include hair and nail salons and other businesses that were allowed to open during the holidays.

The government is planning to reopen kindergartens and elementary schools on Monday, with middle and high schools to follow if the course of the coronavirus allows it.

Ahead of the reopening of schools, it imposed a weeklong lockdown with stricter restrictions that started on Sunday.