All shopping facilities are shut down from November 28. The restriction does not apply to the supermarkets and drug stores; it is allowed to sell chemicals.
Shops are working merely remotely for the second week. Regulations also concerned jewelries, including Swiss watch shop Arttime, the company has temporarily closed 8 stores.
According to Nina Talakvadze, marketing manager of Arttime, the company is confused and they do not know what it will be in the future.
"Our 8 stores are closed. We also have three shops where travel outfits are sold, actually all shops are shut down. We are running an online store, but sales are very low. Too many of our customers have lost their jobs and can no longer afford to buy watches. Our products are luxury items, so the process goes hard. We have not made a general analysis yet, but sales have decreased a lot,” Talakvadze said.
As for the maintenance of the shops, Talakvadze explains, that Arttime employs a total of 60 persons and tries to keep all of them. "We are very confused. In fact, we are closed in December and January. We may open in February, but will our customers be able to purchase the products?! Let’s see what our online store will bring; We may have to cut salaries for employees, but we do not know anything yet. We paid the salaries in full this month," said Nina Talakvadze.
In addition, the GEL exchange rate is a serious problem for Arttime. As a marketing manager of the company says due to the fact that Arttime is tied to the dollar and the franc, the income is very low and they have been forced to cancel the order for New Year's products.
