Shopping centers well attended on Saturday. Handelsobemann dampens expectations: “Will no more trees tear up”
Note: Article was updated at 2:25 p.m.
The Austrians are slowly getting into the shopping mood. On the first Saturday of shopping after the two-week lockdown, the shopping streets and malls were much more crowded than in the past few days. One reason was the start of sales for Christmas trees. During an on-site visit by the KURIER in the Q19 shopping center in Döblingen, the dealers were consistently satisfied. Long queues formed in front of the cash desk, especially in front of the cell phone shop, in the Thalia bookstore and in the perfume shops. The big rush expected by some and feared by many did not materialize on Saturday either.
Good sales
According to a broadcast by the trade association, sales were good until the early afternoon. However, a widespread failure of certain payment terminals on the important shopping Saturday caused major problems nationwide. “This means enormous additional work and delays for the business. As a result, the safety and hygiene concepts are doubly required in practice,” said Rainer Will, chairman of the trade association.
Fault fixed at 1:29 p.m.
Cash register operator Six Payment Service gave the all-clear in the afternoon. The problems were resolved at 1:29 p.m. “Unfortunately, a malfunction at an Internet provider meant that part of the payment transactions could temporarily not be processed correctly at noon today,” says a statement. All services would now run smoothly again. Postscript: “We also apologize on behalf of the provider for any inconvenience”.
WKO commercial chairman Rainer Trefelik also confirmed ATM failures in the early afternoon. He announced an initial interim balance sheet for the course of business on Saturday afternoon. “We will certainly not uproot any more trees,” said Trefelik to the KURIER.
