Covid-19 and Belgian retailers – Modified start date of the winter 2021 sales
Published on 22nd Dec 2020
Last spring we informed you that the summer sales that usually occur in July were being postponed until August 2020 in order to allow retailers to sell their stock at normal prices a little longer. Although a postponement of the winter sales had been ruled out, the government just adopted a Royal Decree on 10 December (published in the Belgian State Gazette on 18 December 2020) slightly shifting the start date of the winter sales from Saturday 2 January 2021 to Monday 4 January 2021.
This very brief and last minute postponement of the winter sales has a public health justification: to avoid the rush of customers into the stores that usually happens at the beginning of the sales. The Government, supported by the Consumer Special Advisory Commission, considered that the risk of a rush would be decreased if the first day of the winter sales fell on a Monday rather than a Saturday.
Let's hope that this small precautionary measure will have the desired effect.
