The furniture industry cannot come to terms with forced closureshe forced coronavirus outbreaks. Industry leaders are calling for the prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki made it possible to resume operations as soon as possible.
“Furniture stores are safe places to buy, and the furniture industry is a strategic sector for the Polish economy. During the epidemic, home furnishings have become basic necessities, making it easier to stay at home. Poles adapt to the new situation and furnish their places in a more functional way. work remotely, learning at home or playing with children “- we read in a joint release issued by Agata Meble, Ikea Poland and Jysk Polska.
As emphasized, furniture stores offer sets of products that largely coincide with the range of renovation and construction stores, which from November 7 this year. remain open.
“We do not see any grounds for differentiating these two types of activity. We believe that Poles should be able to purchase products related not only to renovation, but also to furnishing apartments, and therefore we request that when issuing legal acts, also in the future, our commercial activity should be treated similarly to the construction and renovation industry “- we read further.
Industry representatives emphasize that until the stores are closed – due to both the safety and health of employees and customers, which remain a priority – a number of sanitary regime measures were implemented, spending several million zlotys on this purpose.
“None of the available analyzes of the spread of the virus indicate furniture stores as a site of coronavirus infections. At the same time, a number of publicly available analyzes and opinions confirm that workplaces, including furniture stores, do not pose a threat to public health” – it was also noted.
Industry appeals to government. He wants to severely limit the number of customers
As recalled, during the Monday meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin, the industry presented further proposals to increase sanitary safety in stores, which will allow even better control of customer flow and take care of their safe purchases.
These include: increasing the limit of customers in stores – 1 customer per 20 m2 (today it is 1 customer per 15 m2), disinfection of the most-touched places in the store every hour, e.g. cash registers, payment terminals, increasing the number of hand disinfection stations in the store for customers – two stands for every 500 m2, monitoring compliance with sanitary rules by customers (disinfecting hands and wearing masks). Designating people in the store to follow the DDM principle – distance, disinfection, masks.
“We are appealing to launch sales not only for the interests of consumers and our chains, but also of thousands of Polish sub-suppliers working for us throughout the country. Polish furniture manufacturers and their distributors are an important sector of the Polish economy. We produce in the country, sell to our compatriots, but we also strengthen Polish exports by creating distribution channels to many countries around the world.
The prolonged period of closing stores will definitely affect the collapse of this system, thus reducing income and growth unemployment and limiting development opportunities for Polish companies. Moreover, we also speak on behalf of the thousands of our employees who are ready to work and provide sales services at the present time. We trained them in the requirements of the sanitary regime, equipped them with the necessary personal protective equipment and every day we return to them with the information that unfortunately the stores remain closed “- we also read in the appeal.