Belgium’s jewellers have asked the government to exempt them from measures imposed in connection with the new coronavirus (Covid-19) and allow them to receive their customers inside their shops.
Door sales are not working well because of the safety risk this entails, according to the national federation of jewellers, Ars Nobilis.
“Uplifting small products of value outside or on the parking lot of a shopping mall is a security and insurance risk for the customer and the jeweller,” the federation said.
Ars Nobilis feels jewels and watches can be sold safely in stores by enforcing a strict protocol: sales by appointment, behind closed doors, with no more than one or two clients at a time in the store.
According to the federation, jewellers make over half of their turnover in the seven weeks before the end-of-year holidays and during the holidays themselves. After that, it would be impossible to make up for their losses, it argued.
“Many jewellers say they will not be able to survive if they are closed until the 13 December,” Ars Nobilis stressed.
The Brussels Times
