The Georgian government decided to lift part of the COVID-related restrictions yesterday. As a result, shopping malls and fairs will restore operations on weekends from March 8. However, removing the curfew is critically important for the retail sector, as they note a major part of sales accounts for the evening hours.

“I do not understand why the government restricted operating on weekends so far. No one explains why they don’t shift the curfew from 21:00 to 23:00 and where does the risk of covid transmission increase?

Most people finish work at 18:00 or 19:00 and a critical mass visits us after those hours. Moreover, 40% of our whole week sales came on weekends.

When you finish work at 19:00 and the curfew starts at 21:00, there is actually no time left to buy the type of products we represent.

I do not know, if I can get back 40% of the sales that I lost over the weekends. I have no answer, as I do not know how much the customers will spend”, Kakha Khazaradze, head of ICR GROUP said.